


Someone Like You

by Faith



Category: Grey's Anatomy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-20
Updated: 2015-05-08
Packaged: 2018-02-21 20:43:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 61,818
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2481743
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Faith/pseuds/Faith
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Gary Clark dies before he can reach his final destination, the future of Seattle Grace’s surgical team is unknowingly altered.  Without a push to find their way back to each other, Callie and Arizona find their lives rolling in opposite directions.  Nearly three years and half a world away later, circumstances find them crashing together again while old feelings begin to resurface amidst a host of new complications.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**May 2010**

 

_Derek Shepherd was going to die._

That was the only thought running through Gary Clark’s mind as he methodically steered his vehicle through traffic, double-fisting the wheel so hard his knuckles cracked and split. There was no trace of humanity left in what was once a bright and vibrant human being; he was nothing more than a warm shell, hollow in the centre save for a few organs and a steel flask. Empty of all thought, feeling or emotion, stuck in a perpetual state of darkness since his wife of forty years was taken away before her time.

He merged with a hard jerk, causing a Jeep Patriot to swerve from his path and an outburst of horns and angry gestures. They fell on deaf ears - Gary was somewhere outside of reality. The only obstacle between him and his target was time, and for Shepherd it was about to run out.

Five miles.

He was not a man of religion; he didn’t live his life by the devout faith his wife had shared with her parents. He was, however, a man of justice, a man of his word, and - more importantly - a man with nothing left to lose. Alison’s murderer was going to meet his maker and then Gary would join her in the afterlife, wherever that may be. His last willing act would ensure that Shepherd never destroyed another family again.

Four miles.

He reached for the breast of his jacket, ignoring the false heartbeat concealed beneath a 9mm, and produced a flask instead. It shamed him to turn back to the drink after all these years but today he needed the sense of security only alcohol could provide. Two decades of sobriety eluded him the day his wife passed away and, as far as he was concerned, a man was not a man unless something like this gave him pause. He drank until he was numb and the fear no longer held any sway.

Three miles.

A looming intersection transitioned from green to amber. Traffic slowed. Gary compressed the brake after a lifetime of habit, only for it to occur to him that he had nothing left to protect. There was no precious cargo in the passenger seat to negate any risk. He had made peace with his decision long ago and he wanted it over with.  
The SUV swerved around the lone car ahead of him and Gary hit the accelerator. He broke into the intersection as a cargo trailer roared through at fifty miles an hour.

Four tons of metal twisted its way through the door, smashing bones and severing his spinal cord. His skull connected with the window, his brain hemorrhaged, and it was over before it ever began. By some small mercy, he never felt anything, heard anything, nor did he see it coming.

Blocks away, an incoming trauma set the Emergency Room in motion. Surgeons were dispatched, yellow gowns were passed out, residents and interns hung back until the ambulance arrived. Had he been conscious, the irony would not have been lost on Gary. The very people he was about to pull the trigger on were the ones attempting to save his life.

None of that made any difference. In the end, Gary Clark died with murder in his heart and a loaded gun in his pocket, two miles short of his final destination.

**********

  
**Meredith Grey V/O:** _A single moment can change everything. Some random act of kindness, of violence, of love or lust, can affect our lives in the most dramatic of ways. A butterfly flaps its wings and halfway across the world a typhoon sets off an irrevocable chain of events. It’s a catalyst for chaos and the fallout can be far reaching and more intricate than we could ever imagine. Eighteen people could get shot; most of them could die, if that butterfly simply chooses to get up and move._

_So what happens when it spreads its wings but never leaves the ground? Would we even know the difference? Are things ‘meant to be’, is the balance restored, or would it change everything as we never knew it?_   


**********

“Fifty-nine year old male, severe blunt trauma, DOA,” Reed Adamson called out as Dr. Torres stepped into the trauma room. “We’ve been trying to get him back for half an hour.”

One quick look around and Callie knew they were well into the formality part of CPR. None of the equipment showed signs of life. This ignited Callie’s already fragile fuse.

“Why am I here?” she snapped against her better judgment. Her day was shit and watching people die was not high on her list of priorities, not when a spare office and a ton of paperwork provided an escape from voluntary human contact. If everything went according to plan, that spare office would become her cave where she could hoard endless cups of coffee and ignore anyone who came knocking. Unfortunately they had to clear the ER before she could barricade herself inside.

She picked up the patient’s clipboard with a sense of trepidation. DOA meant there was nothing left for her to do. It made her feel like the Grim Reaper, even though he was already dead and she was simply there to point out the obvious. It was cruel, but he was taking up valuable space and they needed to move things along.

Callie did try to remind herself that it wasn’t Adamson’s fault she was in a crappy mood today. No, that honor went solely to Arizona Robbins. There was no need to bite the heads off of the new transfers and earn herself a reputation like Mark or Alex. This merger had put a strain on everyone over the course of several months.

“Dr. Bailey is busy clearing other beds, we wanted to confirm before calling it,” Reed puffed in between chest compressions. She switched places with an intern and stepped around the gurney toward Dr. Torres. “She told us to keep trying, but that was like fifteen minutes ago and we’re out of options. He’s done.”

It’s fitting, Callie thought when she looked at him, she seemed to be the one calling ‘time of death’ on a lot of things these days.

Through the window into the ER bay, she could see Arizona talking to a patient’s parents at bed four, chatting away like she didn’t have a care in the world. Callie had yet to see Arizona looking like she had just ended a fifteen-month relationship. It was all smiles and friendly greetings, acting like nothing was different, nothing was wrong, which really grated her cheese. All she wanted to do was curl into a ball and cry in her cereal, which made her feel ridiculous by comparison. Maybe their relationship simply hadn’t meant as much to Arizona as it had to her.

That thought really didn’t improve her mood any.

“Time of death, 11:57 a.m.,” Callie stated. The team ceased all CPR. “Has anyone called his family yet?”

“Paramedics gave me his wallet on arrival,” a nurse replied. She handed over a worn piece of leather and a funny look came over her face. “He also had a gun on him.”

“What?” Callie scanned the room for it, startled.

“It’s locked up. The cops are coming for it later.”

Guns gave Callie the heebee geebees. She shook her head and mumbled something about American problems while searching for a piece of ID. The license photo was a definite match. She cast a sad look at the man on the table. “Sorry, Mr. Clark. Looks like today just wasn’t your lucky day.”

They pulled a sheet over his face and Callie moved on to the next patient with a pulse.

***

_July 2010_

 

“You’re leaving?”

Arizona made zero effort to hide her devastation. With the way the last few months had been going, Teddy might as well be transferring to Neptune. When she received a cryptically vague page to an on-call room, she planned on teasing her about the history of these places and the perils of such a bold move. Now, everything remotely funny was wiped from her mind. Teddy was going back to Iraq.

“I’m sorry,” Teddy sighed as she steered Arizona to the bunk. Guilt was eating away at her conscience and Arizona’s big puppy dog eyes weren’t helping. “This re-enlistment package is too hard to pass up. I’d be overseeing a whole new facility and making a real difference in training local physicians. I think I need to go.”

“What about Owen?” Arizona didn’t give two shakes about Hunt, she just wanted some reason for Teddy to stay, selfishly or not.

“Owen has Cristina,” Teddy said, “and that whole thing is...there’s nothing left for me in Seattle. I need a fresh start. No more holding on.”

The mattress sank beneath Arizona’s weight. “But...you have me,” she said weakly.

“Oh, sweetie.” Teddy reached for her hands and held them in a firm grip. “There’s a shortage of doctors overseas. I don’t need to be the one to tell you that.”

Arizona felt an all too familiar pang resonate through her chest. Some days she still wondered what might have happened if Tim had been travelling with a medic that day. “Yeah,” she whispered, wishing, not for the first time, that Teddy could have been there when her brother died. It was morbid and unrealistic, but maybe it could have made a difference. Teddy would save a lot of lives going back to the Army Medical Corps; Arizona respected the decision even if it crushed her spirits.

“You’re a good woman, Teddy Altman,” she relented. A shaky smile was the best she could manage with her eyes welling up. “I’m going to miss the crap out of you.”

Rather than let herself cry - that would come soon enough - Teddy pulled Arizona into a fierce hug. “You’re a tough cookie,” she whispered against her ear. “This thing with Torres, you’ll meet a new girl and forget it ever happened. There are plenty of gay fish in the rainbow sea. You’re a great catch.”

Forgetting about Callie was never going to happen and they both knew it, but Arizona let it slide. There was no point in harping on how much she missed her ex-girlfriend two months after the fact; Teddy had heard it all a dozen times over. She would just have to deal with it on her own from now on.

Losing both her best friend and her girlfriend in the span of a few short months was more difficult than Arizona cared to admit. In a city of half a million people, things were starting to feel incredibly lonely.

“You be careful,” she chided Teddy, pulling back and sticking a menacing finger in her face. “Or else I’ll totally come out there and kick your ass, got it?” The tough girl act was somewhat negated by a tear slipping loose.

Teddy smiled and tugged her back into a hug. “Deal.”

***

_August 2010_

 

“Dr. Hahn, thank you for coming on such short notice.”

Erica and Webber shook hands. A short conversation ensued.

The exchange was muffled but Callie saw it all through the boardroom window. Given the choice of either hyperventilating or throwing up, she told her anxiety to cool it and not embarrass herself in a room full of her colleagues.

Or in front of her ex-girlfriend, who was apparently here. Right now. In this building.

Erica entered on the heels of Webber without so much as glancing in her direction. The meeting began with an introduction of the new (and recurrent) Head of Cardiothoracic Surgery before moving on to regular business. Callie barely processed a word out of Webber’s mouth, she was too busy deciding who not to look at first: Erica or Arizona. The awkwardness seemed to be never-ending. Arizona knew who Hahn was, though whether Erica had a clue was up for interpretation. It was one of those moments when Callie would have paid someone to pull the fire alarm.

Across the table and sitting as far from Callie as she could manage, Arizona watched her ex-girlfriend exchange brief smiles with _her_ ex-girlfriend, all the while a knot forming in her stomach.

Of all the reasons to miss Teddy, this was suddenly slotting in at the top of her list.

***

_October 2010_

 

No matter how many times Arizona’s thumb struck the lighter, the spark refused to catch. She shivered in the autumn breeze, a cigarette perched between her lips and strands of hair swirling around her shoulders, muttering some choice words about shoddy manufacturing.

It was a disgusting habit, she was well aware of that, and up until now she hadn’t smoked in almost four months. But seeing Callie with _that woman_ \- that arrogant, no-personality, jerk of a woman who didn’t deserve a person like Callie in her life-

Well, she’d earned the right to smoke. Just this once.

Arizona had been stuck in meetings all day and shaken so many hands that she needed to step away just to catch her breath. The Chief had been over the moon about her Carter-Madison Grant win, talking great rapport for the hospital as though the award had something to do with him in the first place. She had submitted her work six months before even coming to Seattle but if he wanted to take credit for it, she didn’t care enough to stop him. There were bigger issues on her mind.

She really missed Teddy. In times like these, she needed her best friend to not be halfway around the world in a war zone with few means of communication - especially when she knew there was a confrontation coming in the next few hours that she could use a good pep talk for. Arizona had been getting congratulations from staff members all day, which meant it was only a matter of time before Callie found out from someone else.

Going to Malawi had been her dream for as long as she could remember. Somewhere back in medical school she had been introduced to the idea during a two month practicum at a clinic in Belize. One of the other doctors had family just across the Zambian border and a little research into the developing world’s medical crisis had led Arizona to Mangochi. It was an amazing, incredible, magical opportunity, and at one point all she wanted to do with her life.

And then Callie happened.

Watching Callie grow closer to someone who wasn’t Arizona was torturous. Malawi could provide an escape from the daily reminder of what she had lost - though it also meant that she might never get to see Callie again, period. Three years was a long time. While that wasn’t really what Arizona wanted for them, she wouldn’t have to bear witness to her ex moving on. Arizona didn’t think she was a big enough person to handle that with any sort of grace. The pros and cons had occupied her mind for the better part of twenty-four hours now and it was difficult to tell which scenario sucked less.

No, that was a lie. Watching Callie and Erica flirt was definitely worse. Apparently Callie had forgotten all about the way Erica had walked out on her years ago, as had Chief Webber when he re-hired her. The two of them were starting to look...chummy. It rubbed her the wrong way.

The worst thing was seeing how Callie smiled at Hahn when she thought no one was watching. Not to label herself a stalker, but Arizona was _always_ watching, she couldn’t help it. Whenever those two laughed, there was a sparkle in Callie’s expressive, drop-dead gorgeous eyes. Once upon a time, that look was reserved for her alone. She tried to justify a hundred different reasons why they couldn’t end up together, why Callie and Erica were none of her business, and not once did it make her feel anything other than miserable.

Even so, Arizona was a rational person and she knew their biggest issue would remain a sticking point. Callie wanted kids, which was her right and something she deserved, Arizona just didn’t think she could be the one to give that to her. Especially now - it wasn’t like she could move to Mangochi and have a family to take care of. There were still things she wanted to do with her life that kids just didn’t factor into, or at least they hadn’t before she met Callie.

There were definitely times when she wondered if she’d made a giant mistake. Arizona was never one to pine or hold onto the past when it came to relationships, but then she’d never been with someone she’d loved as much as she loved Callie before. Arizona just couldn’t seem to shake free of her. It was exhausting trying to pretend that she was okay all the time.

Maybe this grant was a blessing in disguise. It was a chance for a fresh start somewhere far away from here, a chance to _finally_ move on. It had worked for Teddy, maybe it would work for her too.

The access door squeaked open behind Arizona but she made no move to turn around. More than likely it was someone waiting for a helicopter to come in, which meant that she’d have to give up her attempt to smoke in private and book it downstairs before she got in the way. She flicked the lighter again, hoping to get in a few puffs before she made her escape. This time it flickered to life.

It was Callie who emerged onto the rooftop, propping the door open with her arm as her stomach rolled around in nervous somersaults. Arizona was the person she was looking for, she just hated feeling so awkward around her all the time. It was such an unnatural reaction. The air was sucked out of her lungs whenever they were in close proximity.

Avoiding Arizona for most of the morning had made her even more anxious, however, so there wasn’t much of a choice left other than to rip off the bandaid. Sooner or later they would have to talk. Callie had only just learned that they had less time to do so than she thought.

There were a finite number of hideouts Arizona had secured over the years and Callie found her standing at the edge of the helipad, exactly where she had known to look. Somehow it was comforting that her habits hadn’t changed since their relationship ended in May. She studied Arizona’s silhouette in silence as the other woman basked in an orange and purple sunset, looking absolutely stunning and making Callie’s heart ache all over again. The admiration came to a screeching halt upon noticing the abhorrent object between Arizona's fingers.

Callie sighed as her ex lifted the cigarette to her lips. “You’re smoking again?” she asked, stepping outside. “What happened?”

Arizona froze long enough for the flame to die out. “Nothing,” she said after a delay, turning to offer Callie a shaky smile. She removed the cigarette and fiddled with the lighter. “I was just…thinking. About stuff. You know how that goes.”

Callie knew that Arizona only smoked when she was stressed. “Yeah, stuff can be a bitch.” She slipped her hands into her lab coat and took a few tentative steps forward.

Somehow what was supposed to be a cause for celebration had put a damper on Arizona’s day, accumulating in the moment when Callie walked through that door. Standing there with a world of space between them, she didn’t feel ready for this yet.

She glanced at the unlit cancer stick and immediately stuffed it in the pocket of her scrub pants, the silver lighter slipping in alongside it. She felt guilty now that she was caught. “I thought you were in surgery with Sloan. Did you guys finish early?”

Arizona immediately cringing at how fake that sounded. Being reduced to small talk when the conversation used to flow so easily was awful. She couldn't help but think back to a time when no conversation was necessary at all; when they could just lie in bed together and she would trace her fingers along Callie's navel for hours. That made it impossible to turn around and face her head-on.

Callie fixed Arizona’s back with a puzzled frown. The only time either of them had difficulties talking in the past was when they were sweaty and tangled in a pile of bed sheets, panting for air and basking in the afterglow. Right now Callie felt uncomfortable in her own skin. “Mark and I? Yeah, we finished a little while ago. Everything went fine.”

Arizona stayed silent, deepening Callie’s worry lines. “Bad day?” she prodded. Even if they weren’t together anymore, she still felt like she had a right to care about Arizona, and she looked like she hadn't slept much the night before. Considering how the blonde usually woke at the crack of dawn as perky as could be, Callie knew something had to be up.

Arizona finally turned around. She had been counting on a little more time to figure out how she was going to tell Callie about the Carter-Madison award but apparently the universe had other ideas. “I got a call last night. It...threw me a little, that’s all.”

Callie politely lifted a brow. “Oh?”

Arizona gathered her thoughts. “Three years ago I applied for this huge grant to get funding for a free surgical clinic and today I found out it came through.” A cold breeze kicked up and caused her to shiver. “I hadn’t heard anything in so long that I just assumed it was a no-go. I guess I’m feeling a little overwhelmed by the whole thing, hence the smoking.”

“I heard,” Callie admitted. “That's why I was looking for you." She swallowed thickly and forced out the expected response. "It's really amazing, Arizona. Congratulations.” She was positive that didn't come out very congratulatory when said out loud, but she was trying her best. It was increasingly difficult to keep the half-hearted smile plastered to her face when she knew the implications of the grant. It was a bittersweet pill to swallow.

Arizona’s shy gaze dropped briefly to the ground. “Thank you. That means a lot, Calliope.” She saw the other woman tense and wondered if she was still allowed to use her full name. That was another thing solely reserved for her in the past. To Arizona, she would always be Calliope.

“The clinic is a big deal,” she added after a beat. “It’s a really impoverished area and the money will help a lot of people. A lot of kids.”

“Where?” Callie wasn’t sure if she wanted the answer just yet. Cleveland? New York? Somewhere in Canada? Something told her that was wishful thinking. The only thing she knew was that it wasn’t in Seattle.

Arizona took in a soft breath. “Malawi. Africa,” she clarified. “I’m finishing out my surgical schedule for the week, then I’m done.”

Shock wasn't a strong enough word to describe the plethora of emotions that went through Callie in that moment. All she could seem to do was nod as any sort of proper response escaped. She wanted to be happy for Arizona and celebrate such a huge, career-changing accomplishment, but fuck, Africa? She couldn't fathom living with the blonde half a world away, especially such a short time from now.

Of course, this wasn’t about her. Logically, Callie knew that. She wasn’t entitled to weigh in on the decision because it didn’t affect her anymore - only it did, break-ups be damned. Arizona couldn’t just _leave_ the country, the freaking continent.

No real answer to that came, so she tried something else. “You're happy?” Callie finally asked. “This is something that you've always wanted, your dream?” In the end, wasn’t that all that really mattered? Maybe knowing that would make it easier to stomach.

The lump in Arizona’s throat grew. “Yeah. I mean…it _was_ what I wanted. Once upon a time, anyway.”

Callie pointed at the pocket Arizona had stuffed her cigarette into. “Then what’s with the smoking?”

“It’s just a lot, you know?” Arizona folded her arms across her middle and gravitating towards Callie. “Moving to another continent, one with a completely different culture and economy and way of life? It’s kind of daunting. And the Peds unit here, I have so many patients that I don’t just want to pass off to the next guy who gets hired. A lot of peds surgeons are horrible with children, you’d be surprised. I won't be around long enough to help the Chief find a replacement that I’m comfortable with.” Arizona found herself spilling every garbled thought in her brain. Old habits died hard. “All of this is just so sudden. I feel like I’m spinning my tires trying to figure it out.”

Callie could empathize. She was still having a hard time wrapping her head around it herself.

Another beat of silence passed, during which Arizona never broke eye contact. “And then there’s–” She couldn’t bring herself to say ‘us’. That wasn’t fair. They weren’t together because they wanted different things; Arizona wasn’t about to make it harder on both of them than it already was.

“There’s…m-my friends, and everyone else here,” she stuttered. “My whole life is in Seattle, so picking up and leaving just seems so surreal.” Her expression fell. "I really thought I'd be here forever not too long ago."

Callie's heart dropped. ‘Friends’. “Yeah. Karev is going to be lost without you,” she said lamely.

“I think he’ll manage.” Arizona had to look away again.

A whirl of noise crashed around Callie’s head and she couldn't make heads or tails of any of it. She had absolutely no idea how to process this without saying something stupid. Judging by Arizona's face, she was on the same page. A part of Callie wanted to beg her not to go, only she didn’t.

The emotional reverie was interrupted by her pager. She looked down to check who it was and flushed as soon as the call display kicked in. Spectacular timing.

Arizona smiled ruefully. “Shouldn’t you get that? I doubt Erica wants to be kept waiting.”

It was really hard not to sound resentful. Hahn not only came back and took Arizona’s best friend’s job, she was also moving in on her territory, so to speak. Arizona realized that was a horrible, stupid way to think, because by no means was Callie her property, she just couldn’t stand the thought of anyone else sleeping in her bed. Months of a poor attempt at being friends hadn’t changed that.

If this whole conversation had proved anything to Arizona, it was that she needed to leave. She wasn’t a big enough person to watch Callie be happy with someone who wasn’t her. This was the best thing for both of them.

The elephant in the room grew in size and Callie’s pager repeated itself seconds later. She grabbed it from her waistband and checked again.

_911 incoming – all hands on deck_

Callie puffed out a breath. “ _Crap._ ”

Arizona nodded towards the stairs, resignation taking hold. “It’s okay,” she said gently, “we can talk later. Go save some lives.”

Although awkward, Callie didn’t want to leave. This exchange with Arizona was the most they’d said to each other in months outside of an OR. Callie didn't want to let her leave town without at least attempting a real talk, maybe even some closure. She also wasn't ready to say what would most likely be a permanent goodbye.

Communicating the page’s urgency to her legs was proving to be a difficult task. Instead she just stood there, staring wistfully at Arizona, wishing she knew what to say to make them both feel better.

“Arizona…”

Emitting a soft breath, Arizona dropped her defensive stance and walked over. She stood in front of Callie, memorizing the most beautiful eyes she had ever seen, before leaning in and pressing a gentle kiss to her cheek.

“Take care of yourself, Calliope,” Arizona whispered in her ear, brushing a hand across her arm before stepping around and heading for the door.

Arizona's kiss lingered warmly on her cheek as Callie remained rooted to the spot, listening to the footsteps grow farther away. She opened her mouth to speak but it was as if someone had paralyzed her vocal cords.

Something about this seemed too final. It nagged at her, like this was the last time she would lay eyes on Arizona if she didn’t do something about it. Her heart began to race and she finally stumbled around, ready to call out, ready to ask her to wait for just one more minute, but her voice died before she could utter the words.

Arizona was already gone.

\----


	2. Chapter 1

_Fall, 2013_

The gradual change from summer to fall lit the city skyline on fire, transforming leaves to shades of amber and vermilion, crisping the air and bringing Seattle one step closer to Thanksgiving. Recreational enthusiasts of all ages and abilities were desperate to get in one last round of outdoor activities before the inevitable cold spell arrived, keeping the surgeons and emergency workers of Seattle Grace-Mercy West busy. Each day brought with it an assortment of broken bones, concussions, lacerations and burns, which meant that for someone like Callie Torres, this particular afternoon was unusually slow.

Callie was preoccupied with propping her head up on the desk in front of her, trying to blink away the boredom while Cristina Yang launched into another long-winded rant about Erica Hahn and the imaginary vendetta set out against her. Callie had heard it all before: how Cristina should have gone to Mayo or Cleveland Clinic, or even, god forbid, Canada for a better fellowship education. Never mind the amazing work she had done over the last two years or the chances she had been given to shine; Cristina’s leash was a long one (for a fellow of Erica’s) and she was making a name for herself in the industry. All Callie ever heard about was how Erica was a demon and Yang wanted to be a better cardiothoracic surgeon than her. Throwing two hotheads of that caliber together was a bit like nitro on TNT, in her opinion. No good could come of it, which meant she was constantly stuck in the middle.

Her thousand-mile-stare failed to deter Cristina, catching every other word and wondering when the phrase ‘cardio god’ would finally get old. Right now, Callie found herself wishing that _she_ were a god and had ultimate control of Cristina's mute button. That would be neat.

“I don’t know who peed in her Corn Flakes this week, but I actually tried to be _nice_ and she still yelled at me,” Cristina was saying. She was technically talking to Callie but more or less announcing her dissatisfaction to the entire floor.

“What’s your version of nice?” Callie said flatly.

Cristina wrinkled her nose and brushed the question off. “She’s suddenly decided that she hates me again. Why else would she refuse to let me in on the bypass graft? I helped develop that method for a _month_ and now I’m just supposed to move on with my day and forget all about it? It’s a freakin’ joke, that’s what it is.”

Callie mustered up the energy to defend her girlfriend’s actions. That was what one was supposed to do in these situations, right? “Don't you think you should give her some credit? She’s the one who got you involved in her ventricular research and she got you heading up that double transplant last month. She’s just trying to-”

Cristina cut her off. “I’m not the one in a relationship with her, Torres. This whole ‘hot and cold’ thing is getting old. Why did she bother giving me the fellowship if she won’t let me in on some of the bigger surgeries?”

“Because she’s letting you run the department while she’s distracted?” Callie pointed out. Some days she wondered if Cristina was incapable of seeing beyond the point of her scalpel.

Cristina ignored logic in favour of continuing her rant. “It feels like a total waste of time being here when I’m getting freezed out on the good stuff. Did the Chief tell her to screw with me or something? Is this his idea of a joke?”

“Oh yeah, that’s Richard. I’m sure he had a gun pointed at her head the whole time,” Callie joked, staring into her hours-old coffee. She didn’t bother to point out that Erica was like this with everyone, not just Cristina. Callie had had her fair share of ‘hot and cold’ when it came to being in a relationship with the woman, especially in the last eight or nine months.

Yang narrowed her eyes. “Oh, shut it. Just because you’re sleeping with her doesn’t mean she’s not a sadistic bitch with a God complex.”

“And some people say the same thing about you,” Callie shot back. Her eyelids began to droop dangerously low. Boredom was slowly giving way to sleepiness.

“Interns don’t count,” Cristina argued. “They’re meant to be tortured. It’s better to weed out the duds early on than to waste precious years teaching them dead-end information.”

“You were an intern once too, remember?”

“Fortunately for everyone, I wasn’t a dud. I’m helping make a name for this place after years and years of epic, bureaucratic failure.” Slamming her chart closed, Cristina fixed Callie with a hard stare. “What is wrong with you? You look like you have radiation poisoning or something.”

“Sleepy,” Callie mumbled, her elbow sliding off the counter when she leaned into it.

“They have pills for that kind of problem,” Cristina mused. She lifted a finger and pointed at Callie’s chin. “Is that drool?”

Callie shot upright and swiped a hand across her mouth, horrified. Cristina just smirked. “Oh, bite me,” Callie sneered, taking a swig of her coffee and then abruptly spitting it back into the cup. “ _Gross._ ”

“I need you to take a look at this case,” Cristina continued without pausing. She shoved the chart into Callie’s chest.

The impact made her grunt. “Ow. Why do you need my opinion? You never want my opinion.”

“There's a reason for that.”

Callie rolled her eyes.

“Will you just look at it? It involves bones. You like that, remember?”

“I don't know what I like anymore,” Callie sighed, feeling a sudden bout of the Monday blues coming on. “It just feels like things with Erica are totally stuck, you know? We hardly even talk anymore. It’s like we’re holding onto something we wanted instead of what we actually have.”

Cristina abruptly held up a hand. “Okay, stop right there. I don't talk about feelings while I’m at work. Mine, yours, other people’s. It leads to ugly haircuts and buying a whole room's worth of furniture.”

“All of which were your fault,” Callie pointed out, shaking her head as she flipped open the chart. “Why am I looking at this?”

“The guy has an arrhythmia; he passed out and busted his shoulder. The Ice Queen has zero interest in a simple valve replacement, so she ‘kindly’ passed along the surgery I could do with my eyes closed.” Cristina looked bored at the mere prospect of it. “He’s scheduled for tomorrow morning, so can you pull yourself together and fix his equally as boring rotator cuff? Y’know, if your zombie brain can handle it. Otherwise I could go grab an intern.”

“Sometimes I don’t even know why I consider you a friend,” Callie grumbled. In truth they were a perfect match these days, both sarcastic to a fault and completely cynical about everyday life. Cristina was separated and nearly divorced from Owen, and Callie, well...her life had been less than peachy in the romantic department for almost a year now. It was hard to focus on the bright side of things, which was perhaps why their friendship had become stronger than ever. Misery loves company and Callie was making it her duty to help Cristina avoid an all-out midlife crisis. Plus, Cristina was the only person who really knew Erica as well as her. Her girlfriend was not big on making new friends.

She reluctantly straightened upright, popping her back and reaching for the phone. “I’ll order x-rays and get a resident to page me if it’s more serious. Should be able to wait until morning.”

Cristina’s pager beeped, culling any more snarky remarks. Her forehead scrunched in confusion. “Great. Speaking of wicked witches, Hahn needs to see me downstairs ASAP.”

Callie snorted. “Might want to plaster a smile on your face or she’ll put you on babysitting duty again.” She smirked until her former roommate suddenly grabbed her by the arm and hauled her around the desk. “Hey!”

“You’re coming with me,” Cristina informed her. “I’ll use you as a human shield. She’s less likely to firebomb the one she’s sleeping with.” The corner of her mouth twitched. “I think you might be doing something wrong in that department, by the way. Generally people are more cheerful when they’re getting laid.”

Callie yanked her arm away. “You are so lucky that I kind of like you. If you were anyone else, I would have broken you in two by now.”

“Good to know.” Yang checked her watch. “I want in on whatever surgery this turns out to be and I need you to distract Lilith so she doesn't bar me from the room.”  
“Why the hell would she do that if she’s the one who’s paging you?”  
“I don’t know which of her personalities made that call. For all I know, the other six could change their mind.”

They made their way down four flights of stairs instead of taking the nearby elevator, logic that even Callie didn’t follow. Cristina claimed that the small crowd of people milling around the door would be too much of a delay, and that by the time they reached the bottom floor, Hahn could have welded the door shut to keep her out. Dramatic, but definitely possible.

Cristina barreled into the exam room with Callie in sluggish pursuit. Her face scrunched in confusion at the sight laid out before her.

On the gurney was a girl no older than seven or eight, a fragile looking thing with no colour in her face and tubes protruding from nearly every vein in her arm. Hahn was too busy barking out commands at frustrated nurses to notice Cristina's presence right away.

“Great, a peds case _and_ she’s in beast mode,” Cristina muttered under her breath. She turned back and almost ran into Callie in the process. If there were two things on this planet that she was not good with - and only two - it was children and her enraged boss.

The motion caught Erica’s attention. “Nice of you to join us, Yang,” she said loudly, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

Callie chose to stay in the doorway and block Cristina’s escape for her own good. “We came down as soon as we could. There was a backlog.”

Hahn glanced up briefly. “I don’t remember paging ortho for a consult, Torres. Though I’m grateful you managed to wake Yang here and see that she was on time.”

“You know, I can do a lot of things, but I can’t teleport from one place to another,” Cristina grunted. She took the patient’s chart from a resident. “She’s been your patient for four months, why is this is the first I’m hearing about her?”

“Because I didn’t need your eager little paws destroying the valve reconstruction Sloan and I did while you were on vacation.”

Cristina stiffened, doing her best to bite her tongue - and she was terrible at biting her tongue. “The first and only three day weekend I’ve taken in five years…” She gowned up and moved forward.

Still awake, the little girl seemed weak and frightened. “I want my mommy,” she whimpered, staring at the large number of people floating around her bed.

Hahn spared her a brief glance, then barked some orders at a nearby orderly to call upstairs for an MRI. If possible, she seemed even more intense than usual.

“Yang, since I assume I have your undivided attention, you can be the one to take her up,” Erica said, yanking off her gloves and tossing them into a nearby disposal bin. “Oh, and make sure her chart is updated for the incoming surgeon. I don’t need Webber up my ass about being unprepared.”

Cristina turned to Callie, fuming, but Callie countered by whispering, 'don't' in an attempt to stave off any further arguments. Given how worked up Erica seemed to be, conflict would only make things worse. For _all_ of them.

“Yeah, fine,” Cristina mumbled. She wasn’t exactly sure what was going on, but even Hahn rarely asked her to do a resident’s work. It was probably important. Cristina was just relieved she wasn’t being kicked from the case before she even got involved.

“I’m counting on you to get everything in order,” Erica added, fixing Cristina with a look that could melt stone. Coming from her, that was about as close to a vote of confidence as she had ever verbalized, even if it was done in a slightly scary manner.

Callie frowned at her partner. Something more than the usual work stress had to have riled her up. “Erica,” she started, stepping towards her now that she had handed over the patient. “What’s-”

“Not now, Callie.” Erica’s voice had a bite to it and for whatever reason, she would not make eye contact. She hardly even looked at Callie before brushing by her and slamming the exam door shut.

“Does she PMS all year long?” Cristina asked no one in particular.

Callie sloughed off the question with a half-hearted shrug. “Let's just say she doesn't like to share,” she sighed. It was a brain stumper when the last time she’d seen Erica smile was. Not in months, that was for sure. Today she seemed extra touchy.

“Apparently,” Cristina said. She moved to the spot Hahn had vacated and put her stethoscope to the patient’s chest. “Not even details like why there’s a kid on this table or what I’m supposed to be doing about it.”

Callie picked up the chart herself. “She suffered from Leukemia, underwent chemo and beat it three years ago.” Her brow furrowed as she skimmed further ahead. “Heart failure as a side effect of the treatment last year; the tissue damage was pretty severe. Erica and Mark performed a reconstruction three weeks ago and managed a temporary fix. She’s on the transplant list.” More flipping through pages. “Her mother brought her in tonight, shortness of breath.”

“ _Why_ am I only hearing about this now?” Cristina growled, exasperated. She whipped the stethoscope around her neck and flipped up the sides of the gurney, then beckoned two residents to get ready to move. “And what did she mean by ‘incoming surgeon’?”

“Webbers orders,” one of the third-year residents spoke up. “He said he’s flying in some doc from out east who’s working with a trial or something. Dr. Hahn seems pretty pissed about it.”

“You think?” Callie mused. Somehow she was less looking forward to going home tonight and more hopeful that a sudden orthopedic case would drop into her lap, no matter how exhausted she was. Then again, Erica didn’t exactly live with her, and if she was in a pissy mood it was more likely she would go home to her own apartment. Besides, staying late at work wasn’t really an option for Callie anymore. Some days she still needed to remind herself of that.

Amongst the chaos and confusion of an active trauma room, it suddenly occurred to Callie that everyone was talking to each other and no one was talking to the patient. One look at the girl and she could see how terrified she was, so she stepped over and took her hand, mustering up a friendly smile. A glance at her chart said her name was Allison. “I’m Dr. Torres, sweetie. You’re in good hands, okay? We’re going to move you upstairs to some machines that can take a look at your heart. Your mommy will be waiting as soon as we’re done.”

The girl still looked scared but she nodded and held tightly to Callie’s hand. “Okay,” she whispered, her bottom lip trembling with the effort of keeping a brave face.

“Cristina here is a really nice person,” Callie continued, shooting Yang a deadly glare just in case she felt like proving her wrong. “She’s the best there is and she’ll take really good care of you. I’ll go get your mom.”

Allison nodded and Callie was forced to release her hand as the residents rolled her to the door.

Cristina hung back for a moment, pulling off her gloves. “You couldn’t have lied and said that I’m mute but talented?”

Callie let out a brief chuckle. “Despite what you may think, you're not dead inside. Even when it comes to kids. I’ve seen you with Meredith’s.”

Cristina looked like she was about to lose her lunch. “Don't go all mushy on me. It looks bad for the both of us.”  
“What about baby Bailey?”  
“An exception to the rule.”

“Or there’s-”

“Another exception. It doesn’t mean I want to take on all the peds cases.”

“Kids have a heart and lungs, too,” Callie pointed out. “Just because you’re lacking the former…”

They exited the room and headed to the staff elevator they had skipped the first time around. Away from the chaos, Callie had a moment to think and replay the scenario over in her mind. Erica seemed _really_ pissed about something and for once she didn’t get the impression it was because their relationship was on the rocks.

Callie fiddled with the drawstring on her scrub pants, unsure if she really wanted to ask the question that was on her mind. “So, an incoming Peds surgeon, huh? Any idea who?”

“Don't get your hopes up. It's not her,” Cristina said without looking over.

Callie scoffed. “I know that.” A beat of silence passed. “Are you sure?”

Cristina groaned at her friend’s persistence. “No, I don't know for sure, but why would the Chief fly Robbins all the way out here from Africa for a cardio case? That’s _really_ far east. Besides, she’s probably already been eaten by a tiger.”

Callie twitched. “They don’t have tigers in Africa.” She scrunched her forehead. “I think.”

“She's not a cardiothoracic surgeon,” Cristina argued. She tucked the chart under her arm and fixed Callie with a hard stare. “It's probably some big shot from Hopkins or wherever that specializes in whatever the hell is wrong with this kid.”

Callie snorted and folded her arms. “A big shot cardio surgeon from Hopkins who you know nothing about? Really? I don't think so.”

“Whatever, I'm not a psychic. You want to know who's running this circus, go find out for yourself. I'm not your personal assistant.” Cristina checked her watch. “I've gotta go. Your demon of a girlfriend will find some way to fry me on this case even though she's not running it anymore.” She brushed by Callie and headed after her residents.

“Everyone is so cheery today,” Callie quipped, turning on the balls of her feet and moving in the opposite direction.

***

By the time flight 815 landed at Sea-Tac Airport, it was 2300 miles and seven hours of air time that Arizona Robbins really wanted back.

She hated flying, mostly because it upset her stomach and she had seen too many episodes of _Mayday_ on Discovery Channel. She was calmer than most people with a fear of flying, but only because the fear was paralyzing and all she could do was stare straight ahead and hope the Gravol knocked her unconscious before they went down.

Apparently her luck was still sitting in Baltimore because her baggage was delayed – a side effect of arriving ten minutes before take-off. That meant all she had with her was a toothbrush and a deodorant stick that she’d stuffed in her carry-on, a pair of pajamas, and her hospital ID from Hopkins. It was irritating but not the end of the world; she’d just have to grab some spare scrubs from Seattle Grace for clothing in the meantime.

It was midnight east coast time and only 9:00 p.m. in Seattle, so Arizona was completely drained when her cab pulled into the drop-off area. There was a rock the size of Texas sitting in her gut, although she did everything in her power to push the nervous feelings aside when paying the driver and stepping onto the curb. She had skipped the hotel stop because she had no bags to check in, figuring that she could at least grab the patient’s information and spend the evening catching up on the case in her room.

“Thanks,” she called out as the driver pulled away, leaving her stranded with no other option but to go inside. She needed to suck it up and get this over with, like ripping off a very raw bandaid and jumping into a frying pan all at once.

Arizona squared off with the once familiar building it. It looked the same as she remembered, which wasn’t really surprising. Two and a half years wasn’t that long in building standards, it just happened to feel like forever for her.

She shifted her carry-on over one shoulder and marched through the front doors, immediately lambasted with memories of the good old days. She had loved working here before it became a source of pain. The sights and the smells were the same, the only differences she noted were the carpet in the main seating area and a new vending machine offering sandwiches in the corner. Other than that, it seemed just as it was the day that she left. Arizona didn’t know whether that was comforting or disconcerting.

Feeling jittery, she shoved those thoughts aside and walked onward. The elevator opened and she waited for people to get off before stepping inside and pressing the upper floor button.

“Hold the doors!”

Arizona automatically mashed her thumb on the arrow key and glanced up as none other than Derek Shepherd jogged in. She saw the surprise register on his face and quirked a teasing grin at him and his hair. “Fancy seeing you here, Dr. Shepherd.”

Derek flashed one of his signature pearly white smiles. “I could say the same thing about you.” The elevator closed and they started to move up. “How's Hopkins? I hear you're working wonders over there.”

Arizona's smile faltered. She didn't think anyone knew about her current stint, let alone doctors on the opposite coast. Her stomach rumbled. “It's good,” she said, shrugging. “I haven't really told anyone that I’m back in the US yet. How did you know I'm working there?”

“I found out a couple of days ago when I caught wind of the new trial you're working on,” he said. “I didn't know you were one of the doctors engineering it until I start digging around for more information. It’s quite fascinating.”

Arizona sighed in relief. Thank god. Callie couldn't possibly know unless Derek had gone off and run his big mouth. “It’s really exciting. I kind of can’t believe it brought me back here. It seems so long ago.”

Derek’s eyes sparked with curiosity. “Does Torres know you're here yet? She didn’t say anything.”

Arizona tensed. “No idea,” she murmured awkwardly. At least she knew that Callie still worked in the building.

The doors slid open. “Good luck,” Derek said, stepping out. “It’s nice to have you back, Dr. Robbins.”

“I'm not back,” Arizona called after him as the elevator shut and cut off her view. It continued the slow chug upward.

Her biggest hope was that she wouldn't run into Callie tonight. Judging by the pit in her stomach, she was definitely not ready to have _that_ confrontation any time soon. It was a thing of the past and she’d moved on with her life, but there was enough crap on her plate right now without adding ‘awkward reunion’ to the list of things to worry about just out of the gate.

***

Callie was beginning to wonder if she was on the universe’s shit list when she was paged into an emergency surgery twenty minutes shift end. By the time she got out, it was already quarter after ten and she’d missed her favourite Thursday night television extravaganza. It usually amounted to an hour and a half of mindless entertainment before she fell asleep drooling on Erica’s shoulder, but still. It was her time to relax and now she was due back in a mere eight hours.

She hadn’t seen Erica since earlier that the day and she didn’t know if she wanted to. Things had been tense and less than stellar lately, with a total lack of sleep and working opposite schedules really taking its toll on their romantic life. She had no idea if Erica would be at her own place or Callie’s. If she was there, there wouldn’t be much more than a quick discussion of what time to set the alarm for.

Fun times.

A year ago, Callie really thought that she was destined to be happy with the path that she’d chosen. Now, given the way things were going, she wasn’t so sure anymore. Their relationship had kind of plateaued in recent months and suddenly things felt awkward. They couldn’t talk like they used to. Callie had been in relationships before where both parties simply coexisted and it never ended well. She tried not to think about how similar her situation with Erica was starting to feel, because one more failed attempt at love and she was going to get a major complex.

Deep down, she knew why things were exponentially harder between them, but it wasn’t something she could change -- nor did she want to. It was a decision she had made on her own and Erica had told her to go for it, they would work things out along the way. They were trying, Callie had to give them that.

Sighing to herself, she ended up changing in the locker room at the speed of a sloth before receiving a text message from Cristina. She debated trashing her phone and claiming she never got it, but Cristina was just as likely to track her down like a heat-seeking missile if she was pissed off about something.

Pulling it together for another ten minutes – _maximum_ – of conversation before she shut down entirely was feasible. Callie picked up her purse, slung on her leather jacket, and went in search of Cristina.

***

The initial déjà vu wore off after an hour of running into nurses and former residents from Arizona’s time as the Chief of Pediatric Surgery. She convinced Anne, her favourite scrub nurse to this day, to grab her a few pairs of scrubs after explaining her luggage debacle. The response to her ‘dramatic’ return was overwhelmingly positive and she was starting to enjoy the miniature reunions. Her staff had been amazing when she was Chief of the department and she still wished she could lure half of them away to Hopkins when she went back.

Arizona busied herself collecting Allison Tanner’s patient files while she waited for Anne. As soon as the nurse returned with clothing, she planned on high-tailing it to the hotel to shower, eat, and fall into bed before getting up at the crack of dawn only to return. It was going to be a very long week.

“Dr. Robbins, I presume?”

Arizona glanced up to find a rather short, stout looking man glaring at her with probably the most unimpressed expression she had ever seen on someone she’d only just met. She would have been offended if he didn’t look like that was as pleasant as his face ever got.

“That would be me,” she said half-cheerfully. The exhaustion limited her perk. “What can I do for you, doctor...?”

“Robert Stark,” he replied curtly. Without pausing to take a breath or let her get out so much as a ‘pleased to meet you’, he rattled on. “I understand you’re here on an assignment for Dr. Webber. Let me start by saying that Allison Tanner has been a patient at Seattle Grace for many years now and that her situation is probably a little more complicated than you’re expecting.”

His tone sparked a flare of annoyance. Arizona knew when she was being talked down to, she was a woman running one of the most prestigious departments in the country and had her authority challenged on a regular basis. Coming from this short little weasel of a man, it was even more aggravating than usual.

“I’m aware of her prognosis,” she said evenly, indicating the thick folder in her hand. “Dr. Webber and I talked extensively over the phone about fitting her into the clinical trial. I can assure you I’ll be extremely thorough before diving ahead and performing any procedures.”

“That’s all fine and dandy,” Stark said just as dismissively, “but Dr. Webber is also more concerned about good press for the hospital than patient care. Dr. Hahn and I have overseen Miss Tanner’s treatment since her cancer diagnosis and I’m not convinced your presence here is necessary.”

Arizona bit back a snide remark as she was already tired and at the end of her rope. Instead she straightened and set Stark with an neutral stare. “I appreciate your concerns, Dr. Stark. Know that I am extremely capable at my job and I can assure you that I’m not the type to perform unnecessary surgery on a minor, least of all for publicity reasons.”

“What she needs is to be kept on the transplant list,” Stark cut in as though Arizona had never spoken. “Which I’m sure Dr. Hahn has already told you. We don’t want anything getting in the way of that. Remove her from the list now and UNOS might not hold her spot should this experimental treatment fail.”

Crossing her arms, Arizona lifted a brow. “I plan on having a long meeting with Dr. Hahn and the others involved in the child’s case in the morning. You have to realize that in her condition, given her prior chemotherapy treatments and the state of her immune system, a transplant would be extremely ill-advised.”

Stark opened his mouth and more words tumbled out, each just as condescending and frugal as the last. Arizona’s tired gaze happened to drift over his shoulder while she tried to figure a way out of this.

Almost immediately she spotted Callie.

Not even an entire length of hallway or the view from behind could mistake her for anyone else. The same long, messy curls were draped around her shoulders and the jacket was something Arizona would recognize anywhere. Callie was absorbed in a conversation with Cristina that involved lots of hand gestures and exasperated faces being thrown back and forth. Callie turned so her side was exposed, looking tired yet amused, that little half smirk twitching to break loose.

The air left Arizona’s lungs. She was caught completely off guard by a random surge of panic - surely she was adult enough to act normal, even if the butterflies in her belly said otherwise. It wasn’t as though she had spent the last two years pining and wallowing away her life. She had moved on, as she was sure Callie had. There had been no harsh break-up or heated exchange before she left Seattle, so there was no logical reason why she should suddenly feel like ducking behind the desk. Arizona chalked it up to her earlier assumption that Callie would be long gone for the evening and getting caught unprepared.

There was a little part of her brain that immediately thought Callie looked just as stunning as she’d remembered. Arizona actually started to smile once the brunt of the panic subsided.

“Dr. Robbins?”

It was the sharpness in his tone that made Arizona snap her gaze back to him. “I’m sorry, what?”

Stark huffed and crossed his stubby little arms. “The point I’m trying to make is, don’t get too comfortable. The FDA has yet to approve a clinical trial in pediatrics with the risks involved, so Miss Tanner may not even apply to the circ–”

Arizona cut him off, at her wits end with this guy and also more than a little shaken at the appearance of her ex-girlfriend less than a hundred feet away. “Dr. Stark, I understand your concern, but the FDA has also made one prior exception with a fifteen-year-old patient from Boston. It was the reason I was brought into this trial with Dr. McHale and his colleagues in the first place. Despite what you may have heard about its pending approval in Allison’s case, it’s all but a done deal once I examine her myself.” He tried to interrupt again and she kept going. “If I need you in any further capacity, you will be the first to know, but as of tomorrow morning I am taking over her case. If you have any complaints about my credentials, I suggest you take it up with the Chief of Surgery.”

Stark was fuming when he stormed away. Arizona was too fried to be happy as she gathered her things and tucked Allison’s files into her bag. After the week she’d had, she could use a little victory, especially given his childish antics. The last thing she wanted was another complication thrown into the mix.

Her eyes were involuntarily drawn back to the end of the hallway now that she was alone again. Her painstakingly beautiful ex-girlfriend was still standing there, oblivious to Arizona, looking exactly the same as she had two and a half years ago. The memories were overwhelming and she couldn't seem to tear her eyes away. Not even several _very_ hectic years apart could have prepared Arizona for how hard it hit her the moment she lay eyes on Callie again.

Down the hall, Cristina was busy whining. “ _Please_?”

“You paged me here to ask me for a drink, after I’ve already been stuck at work for an extra two hours?” Callie demanded. “You get that I have a very complicated life these days, right?” She had surpassed annoyed several minutes ago and gone on to tired and cranky. Her feet hurt and she had an ungrateful, unsocial, uncooperative girlfriend, possibly at home and asleep in her bed. She didn't have time for Cristina's shenanigans.

The cardio surgeon let out a frustrated puff of air. “Come on. Don't make me beg. It's not my thing.”

Callie let her head fall into her hands. “Cristina, I am tired. I had three back-to-back-to-back surgeries today. I don't need alcohol sloshing around and melting my brain. Not to mention I have other things to worry about.”

“Drinking will help you sleep better.” Now Cristina was grasping at straws. She just really needed to blow off some steam and Meredith was still on maternity leave.

Callie briefly raised her line of sight. “Are you driving me back after?”

“No,” Cristina snorted. “You live like four blocks away. Walk.”

“Then no,” Callie said flatly, throwing her purse over her shoulder and re-adjusting her jacket in preparation to leave.

“When is the last time I _ever_ begged you to hang out with me?” Cristina whined, physically blocking Callie from leaving. “C’mon. Mer is piled up to her eyeballs in poopy diapers, Alex is gone, and everyone else here sucks. One drink, that’s all I’m asking. I don’t want to talk about boys or surgery or anything not named Tequila.”

Callie arched an eyebrow. “You sound like you’re trying to ask me out on a date, Cristina. _No_.” She tried to step around the irritatingly persistent woman.

Cristina shifted with her. “Shut up and come with me. You can’t honestly say you want to go home to the She-Devil. You must be dying for a night off.”

“Again, I can’t just take off for all-nighters anymore,” Callie argued, pinching the bridge of her nose. She dropped her hand away in exasperation. “Why can’t you just–”

Mid-sentence, Callie spotted Arizona. Before her brain even registered who was looking at her, she just knew - the blonde hair, bright eyes and perfect dimples were only a confirmation.

Holy shit.

The name died on her lips. Stupefied, she stared back.

Arizona recognized the same confusion registering on Callie’s face that she had been feeling moments before. At least she’d had more of a heads up, unlike Callie, judging by how floored she was.

Running into an ex was never fun but Callie had always been more than that. Before or since their split, Arizona had never loved anyone the way she loved Callie back then. The last memory she had of her on that rooftop didn’t compare to seeing her in person right now. She looked stunning.

Arizona finally managed a faint smile and lifted her hand in acknowledgement. It was the best she could manage under the circumstances. Her feet remained rooted to the spot.

Callie’s breath hitched. She was positive that the astonished expression plastered to her face was not an attractive one, but she was having a little trouble separating the rush of emotions. Her expression was the least of her worries. She totally blanked on how to respond and opted for a weak, upward tweak of her lips that one could almost categorize as a smile.

Callie took an automatic step towards Arizona, only to be brought back to her immediate surroundings by the incessant snapping of Cristina's fingers in her face.

“Hello? Earth to Torres!” Lacking acknowledgment, Cristina huffed at her. “I just broke all of the bones in my body. Bones. Broken. Really broken. Snapped in half. Pieces everywh--” She drifted off, continuing her snapping fit before the other woman swatted her hand away.

“ _What?_ ” Callie barked, dragging her attention to the more annoying problem directly in front of her. “What do you want?”

“Alcohol,” Cristina deadpanned. “D’uh.”

Callie closed her eyes and gave her head a swift shake. “No, look, I-I gotta go. I can’t, I’m sorry. Maybe next time.” Without any more of an explanation, she turned around and booked it around Cristina, almost before she even gave her feet permission to move.

This time it was in the _opposite_ direction, leaving both Cristina and Arizona stunned. Cristina threw up her arms in defeat and skulked away without spotting the reason for Callie’s departure.

Down the hall, another sinkhole was forming in Arizona’s stomach. Seeing Callie take off at the speed of light was hardly a boost to her confidence. She was pretty sure the shock and horror on the other woman’s face was a good indication of how the rest of this visit was destined to go. Apparently it had been too much to hope for a friendly reunion.

She wondered if Callie was mad that she left without saying goodbye in the end. It was a long time ago but it was still a cowardly move, Arizona knew that much. At the time she just couldn’t stand the thought of having a long and drawn out farewell after their last conversation had been painful enough on its own. She’d taken the easy way out and disappeared after her final shift, forgoing goodbyes and rationalizing it with her hectic, last-minute schedule before take-off.

“Dr. Robbins?”

Shaking herself back to reality, Arizona smiled at Anne while accepting the pile of clean scrubs handed her way. “Thank you,” she said earnestly, tucking them into her carry-on alongside everything else. The bag was starting to weigh more than she did.

After a few more pleasant ‘goodbyes’ and ‘nice to see you agains’, all the while keeping an eye out for Callie, Arizona trekked back to the taxi zone outside. Right now she would pay a year’s salary if there was a cab already waiting that could take her somewhere with a warm shower and comfy bed.

Regardless of what happened from here on out, Arizona had her patient and the trial to focus on. Allison Tanner didn’t have any skeletal or muscular problems, so a crossover with orthopedics was almost a guaranteed impossibility.

Of course, nothing in Arizona’s life was ever quite that simple.


	3. Chapter 2

Erica was a punctual person by nature and regarded time wasting as the eighth deadly sin. If one of her residents stepped into the OR so much as thirty seconds behind schedule, they were kicked from her service. Being late was about as common for her as hugging strangers.

So when her alarm failed to go off at seven o’clock thanks to a power outage, she found herself in a pissy mood before the sun had even risen. Oh, she could hear Callie gloating now - how many times had she told her to use her phone as a backup just in case? But no, Erica was old fashioned and preferred the same alarm clock she had been using for years. Now she was late - exactly the opposite of what she needed to be.

Luckily, Callie had awoken much earlier and taken care of some things before she left for work. Somehow Erica had managed to sleep through her partner’s morning routine and never even felt her stir. There was an extra piece of burnt toast left on the counter, a jam jar sitting beside it, along with a scribbled note to say they could catch up before Erica’s shift started. Erica sent Callie a quick text and agreed to meet by the front doors.

She took a quick shower and spent ten minutes preparing the necessary case files for her meeting with Webber. In her haste, she nearly forgot the most important documents on her way out the door and had to backtrack in a hurry. The combination of sleep deprivation, caffeine withdrawal and stress provided enough of an excuse to stop for coffee despite her tardiness. If either she or Callie were going to get through today with some shred of sanity left over, large amounts of caffeine were non-negotiable.

The moment she stepped through the front doors, she knew she’d made the right move. Callie was cemented to the far wall, trying not to look as though it was the only thing keeping her upright. She seemed almost gaunt with her eyelids barely squeaked open and an expression that clearly read ‘don’t talk to me right now’. The combination managed to be fairly attractive, although Erica wouldn’t have recommended any of Callie’s inferiors approach her for a favour just yet.

Erica was smirking when she strolled over and extended a coffee cup in greeting. “I ordered an extra shot of espresso in yours. Figured you would need it, given the way you spent the entire night tossing and turning.”

Callie sheepishly averted her eyes and sipped the mocha, straightening up. She followed Erica to the second floor mezzanine, her legs burned with every step. Being awake before nine _sucked_. “You noticed that, huh?”

“It was kind of hard not to. Like an earthquake relegated to our bed, only not in the good way."

Callie set her coffee on the admin desk when they arrived and leaned against it while Erica juggled multiple bags. “Sorry if it kept you up. I've just got a lot on my mind.”

“You don't say?” Erica mused, vaguely sympathetic. “I’m starting to think I might need to slip some codeine into your wine at night. Maybe it’ll help you sleep.”

“Or make it impossible for me to wake up,” Callie chuckled. “Right now I don’t think I’d object.”

“If I didn’t know you so well, I’d suggest taking a day off, get some rest before you burn out,” Erica suggested. She sloughed the briefcase off her shoulder - only to be blindsided by an intern before it could reach the desk. He ran right into her, bouncing off her shoulder, and the briefcase flew from her grasp. It burst open on the floor and a thousand sheets of paper fanned out in all directions. Her coffee went with it.

“ _What the hell?!_ ”

Callie’s reaction time was non-existent and all she managed was a feeble hand wave to try and catch a paper that shot by her head. Everything else was already spread out over a ten foot radius. Steam was pouring from Erica’s ears and Callie felt a hard lump grow in her stomach.

Oh, hell.

Erica’s ferocity landed squarely on the intern who was now scrambling to help clean up, blubbering like an idiot as he went.

“I’m sorry, I’m _so_ sorry Dr. Hahn,” he blubbered. “I-I was looking for - I didn’t see you and-”

Erica snatched a report that was soaked in coffee stains and held it up, watching it drip into a puddle at her feet. “Get out!” she barked, stuffing the ruined mess back into the case. “Do you really think you belong here? You can't even walk in a straight line! You think some poor schmuck is going to trust you with a scalpel? I wouldn't trust you with a toothbrush!"

The intern paled. “Dr. Hahn, I-I -”

“Just get out of my sight,” Erica snapped as she stood up and slammed the briefcase on the desk. The intern tripped over himself and ran for his life. Erica’s scowl deepened while she crouched down again to grab the rest of her files.

Callie stood there like a bump on a log throughout most of it, too exhausted to jump to the poor guy’s defense. Truth be told, she kind of wanted to kill him herself – for just one single moment, she thought it was possible for Erica to be in a good mood today. Maybe they would get along without any drama, maybe share a few laughs. Now, knowing her girlfriend, this would set the tone for the entire day. Erica was not gifted with getting over things quickly.

Groaning, Callie bent down and started to help.

“I’ve got it,” Erica said hotly, shoving everything into a haphazard pile. She shooed Callie’s hands away. “Christ, are you kidding me? I’m supposed to brief the new surgeon in less than twenty minutes. Like I need another reason for Richard to bite my head off.”

Callie’s mouth ticked as they both stood up. “About that. Have you heard who the–”

“Oh for gods sake,” Hahn cut in. She held up a sheet that looked like it had gone swimming in a puddle. “Please tell me you know who that was, I want to make sure he ends up working from a janitorial closet sooner rather than later.”

Callie's eyes grew wide and she subtly retracted a few steps. She felt bad that Erica was having such a crap morning, but at the same time, that was her excuse every day. If it wasn’t an intern bowling her over, it was the rain, or her residents, or a case, or the Chief, or Yang. Erica was always unhappy. She knew it, Callie knew it, hell, everyone who came within ten feet of her knew it. Erica did have a soft spot for _her_ , at least, it just didn’t extend to the rest of the human race. Part of what attracted Callie to Erica in the first place was that she made no apologies for who she was. Nobody walked all over Erica Hahn - she hit you with a wrecking ball and danced on your broken corpse if you tried.

Sometimes those admirable traits came back to bite her in the ass. Callie found herself on the giving and receiving end of numerous fights these last few months. The smallest things would set Erica off and Callie knew that she wasn’t any more pleasant to be around when she was pissed off. They argued, they said things they regretted, they made up and moved on with their lives. It was the same thing every time with a different subject attached . Remembering the good times was becoming increasingly difficult; some days it felt like Callie was sharing her bed with a stranger. She hated feeling so estranged from someone she had been with on and off over the years. Something between them just wasn’t clicking the way it used to.

She was yanked out of her daze by Erica's voice, which had escalated due to Callie's lack of response.

“Torres!”

Callie blinked. “Hm?”

“I would think twice about stepping into the OR today if I were you,” Erica said, frowning at her while stuffing more papers into the briefcase. “Generally speaking surgeons are supposed to be awake when they cut into someone.”

Callie's mouth opened but she couldn't form any sort of a worthy defence. Her mind was still operating somewhere between ‘sloth’ and ‘fossil’. “Sorry, sorry. I'm just tired. Coffee is good, though.” She took a large gulp and burnt off the top layer of her tongue.

“I can see that,” Erica mumbled. “I asked if you’ve heard anything about this new surgeon. Norman McHale opted to stay behind and send one of his pupils in his place. He never got back to me who he chose.”

That surprised Callie. She would have put money on at least part of Erica’s frustration stemming from Arizona’s arrival. The fact that she didn’t know yet meant that this afternoon was about to get much, _much_ worse for everyone involved.

Swallowing with what she had left of her tongue, Callie stuffed a hand into her lab coat and shrugged a second time. “I haven’t heard anything, sorry.” Technically that wasn’t a lie - Arizona could have been there for any number of reasons. Maybe she was just on vacation. Either way, it was all very clear to Callie how much she did _not_ want to have this conversation, especially after such a horrible start to their morning. Erica’s fondness for her could only take them so far before even Callie found herself needing to duck.

Speaking of violence and all things bad, Callie’s realization that Erica and Arizona were about to be in the same room together scared her shitless. It was like girlfriend thunderdome without the sexy outfits.

Hahn didn’t pick up on Callie’s nerves. “Whoever they are, they had better not be an idiot, or Webber and I are going to have an issue.”

“Maybe you should just step away from the whole thing,” Callie suggested. “You know, focus on your other patients. Let Webber and the new one do their thing. It’s not worth stressing over.”

“I don’t like being cut out of my own cases,” Erica argued. “You wouldn’t be too happy if he authorized a procedure you weren’t convinced of on one of your patients, would you?”

Callie knew she had a point. “No, that would probably make me angry. I just don’t like seeing you all worked up over this.”

Erica’s smile was forced. “Because I’m usually the low key type who’s exceptionally talented at letting things go. Do you even know me at all?”

Callie had to laugh. Trying to talk Erica out of anything was like trying to convince a brick wall to become a flower pot, it didn’t happen. Inevitably, her former and her current would end up working together on this kid, and Erica was already raring for a fight. Callie decided it might be safer to speak up while she still had the chance. “Listen, Erica, I want you to let you know that I-”

“Ah, hell,” Erica interrupted when her cellphone started vibrating. She struggled to find it in her coat. “Hang on.”

Callie fell silent again, allowing her the opportunity to pick up on something she might not have otherwise. It was a laughter permanently seared into her brain, not even three years could make her forget it.

Abandoning her confession, she moved to the railing and overlooked the lobby. Arizona was walking through the front doors with Bailey and Tucker Jr. in tow, wearing dark skinny jeans, black heeled boots and a loose fitting top beneath a bomber jacket. She walked with the same confident stride that Callie remembered. She would know who she was even if Arizona had a paper bag over her head.

Arizona was focused on Bailey’s son trying to teach her some sort of secret handshake. Her other hand held a coffee cup that she took a sip from every so often, though her attention never strayed from her little companion. Tucker looked thrilled to have a new playmate.

Callie knew exactly what was in that cup without thinking it through - a triple-shot, extra large, half-coconut mocha with light whipped cream and chocolate flakes. The cup came from Arizona’s favourite café about three blocks down. It had been her choice of fall beverage back when she lived in Seattle.

“I have a meeting to get to,” Erica spoke up while she scrolled distractedly through her phone. Where she was once late, by now it could be construed as tardy. Just perfect.

She snapped the ruined briefcase shut and picked up her purse. “I’m going to go pretend to do my job because apparently Richard thinks someone else can do it better. I’ll see you later.” She didn’t get a chance to see what had Callie so captivated and left in a hurry.

Callie watched her go before returning her gaze to the lobby. It was the same moment Arizona chose to look up at the second floor.

If it weren’t for Tucker pulling insistently on the tail of her scarf, Arizona probably would have stopped all together and stared at Callie like a fool. A few stumbling steps forward kiboshed any graceful rhythm she had going and she was forced to corral her thoughts back into the moment.

“See? My dad showed me how to do that!” Tuck exclaimed, bouncing around in front of Arizona, showing her some type of karate move six-year-old style.

Arizona was suddenly finding herself tongue-tied and more than a little flustered, glancing distractedly between Tucker and Callie. “Yeah, that’s really cool, buddy,” she agreed, ruffling his hair. “Are you sure your Mama likes it when you run around the house kicking pillows everywhere?”

Tucker scrunched his nose. “No, she tells me to wait until it’s recess, but we only get one recess and I like doing it. Want me to show you another one? I’ll race you!”

Before Arizona could say otherwise, the boy scampered away, doing laps around the atrium with a perturbed Bailey in hot pursuit.

“Robbins! A little help here?” she demanded. “You wound him up, you catch him.”

Arizona tore her eyes from her ex-girlfriend again and set off to wrangle the rambunctious boy. Getting on Bailey’s bad side was not on her list of accomplishments for this trip.

Tuck was too busy making karate noises and running from his mom that he didn't see Arizona sneak up and grab him from behind. He squealed with delight as she hoisted him into her arms and started to tickle him in the ribs.

“No fair! Let go!"

“Say Uncle.”

“Uncle! Uncle!” Tucker stopped struggling when the tickling ceased and settled contently into Arizona's arms. “I’m hungry.”

“Well then, someone had better get you some breakfast,” Arizona mused, adjusting her grip. “Gosh, you’re getting heavy. What do you eat these days, elephants?”

From upstairs, Callie soaked in the image of Arizona and Tucker Jr. for all it was worth. It brought her right back to where they were almost three years ago - how could someone so wonderful with kids not want one of their own?

Mussing up Tuck’s hair again, Arizona tossed him back to his feet with a loud ‘oomph!’. “You’re getting so big,” she laughed. “The last time I saw you, you were pint-sized and in diapers.”

“Was not!” Tuck pouted at the accusation that he had ever been anything but the same age he was now. It didn’t last long as he took Arizona’s hand and started pulling her in the direction his mom was waiting for them both.

“Did you pet the lions when you were in Africa?” he asked excitedly. “My mom says you got to pet the lions!”

“Petting them is a bad idea, little man,” Arizona chuckled. She risked another glance up at Callie. “I did see some lions, though. They’re dangerous but very pretty.”

Tucker’s eyes widened. “Awesome!” He released her hand and scampered over to his mother, just about knocking her over. “Mom, mom! Can we go see the lions in Africa too?”

“Don’t go giving him any ideas,” Bailey scolded. She caught sight of where Arizona’s eyes kept darting to and lifted an eyebrow at Callie. “Don’t you have somewhere to be, Robbins?” she asked pointedly. “Somewhere that’s _not_ here, staring at Torres like a little lost puppy?”

Arizona hesitated. “I don't know what you're talking about,” she mumbled unhappily.

Tucker got distracted by someone else he knew and tried to walk off, so Bailey wrangled her son by his jacket sleeve and held him in place. “No lions, little man. Except for ones at the zoo.”

Arizona shifted her weight before refocusing on the boy. Getting karate-kicked in the gut by a six year old was a safer option than gawking at Callie like an idiot. “Lions are cool but very mean, Tuck. Don’t ever pet them, okay?”

“Why?”

“Because they could eat you.”

“Why?”

Arizona grinned. “Because people taste good to them.”

“Why?” Tuck repeated.

“Time for your breakfast,” Bailey cut in, pulling him away before his questioning got out of hand. “Good luck today, Robbins.” She didn’t specify with what exactly.

Arizona watched them go before she worked up the nerve to head upstairs. If they could just get this overwith, everything else would go a lot smoother.

She was halfway up to the mezzanine level when she realized that Callie was no longer alone. Rather than barge in, she hovered awkwardly a few steps down. Cristina was arguing over Hahn’s service from the sounds of things.

“Are you kidding me? You want me to get in between you two? No _way_ ,” Callie growled at her. She kept looking around like she was expecting to be mugged at any moment.

Cristina was too busy scowling to notice that they had company. “It's because we aren't roommates anymore, isn't it? You revoked my special status because we don't get drunk and make fun of other people under the same roof. That's really, really petty, Torres."

“I am the _last_ person who can talk Erica into anything right now,” Callie sighed. She started to say more but caught sight of Arizona and the words died in her throat.

Cristina almost punched Callie just to get her attention again. “Do we need to test you for ADD? You have the attention span of a squirrel lately.”

Arizona cleared her throat. “Hey.”

Cristina did a double take. “Holy crap,” she said bluntly. “Robbins, when did you get back?”

“Late last night,” Arizona replied. She switched her focus to Callie and tried to quell the apprehensive ball growing in her stomach.

Callie was frozen to the spot and starting to look like she had just seen the Ghost of Christmas Past. Arizona offered her a shy smile and came to the top of the stairs. “Calliope,” she said, nodding politely.

Callie blinked a few times. “I…”

Arizona lifted an eyebrow and waited.

The only thing Callie’s mouth could seem to do was flap around uselessly without making any noise. She panicked. “I-I have to go,” she blurted instead. In a flash, she was hightailing it in the other direction.

Arizona’s heart plummeted as she watched her flee. She adjusted the shoulder strap of her bag and gave the other surgeon in the vicinity a weak wave. “Hi, Dr. Yang.”

“Hey,” Cristina said, surprised. “I had no idea you were back.” She jerked a thumb after Callie. “I don’t think Torres did either. She’s a little weird these days, try not to take it personally.”

Arizona snorted. “Not many people did,” she admtted. “Let me guess, she had a major surgery to get to or something equally as pressing and convenient.”

Cristina shrugged. “Maybe. Or she’s a giant chicken and ran away when she saw you coming. Take your pick.”

Arizona had to resign herself to the fact that this would be a very long and awkward trip to Seattle. “Well, I tried. I guess I’ll see you shortly, Dr. Yang.”

Watching the pediatric surgeon head for the stairwell, Cristina shook her head, miffed. What in the hell Robbins was doing back in Seattle escaped her. Maybe Chief Webber was sick of Stark’s shining personality and had finally kicked him to the curb. That would make a lot of people happy. Well, most people, except for maybe Callie and-

_I’ll see you shortly._

“Holy crap!” Cristina’s outburst caused other people to stare. Pieces of the puzzle finally fell into place.

If she had to be in the same room as Hahn and Robbins all day, she was a dead woman. Between the rage and the perk, something was bound to go horribly, horribly wrong. Hahn could barely stand to teach _her_ and Robbins was astronomically more pleasant to be around if anyone were to poll the masses. Hahn _hated_ happy people.

“Oh this is _so_ not fair,” Cristina groaned to no one in particular. Maybe it wasn’t too late to induce vomiting and hide herself at home for the afternoon.

***

The trial meeting was scheduled for the conference room on the fourth floor, giving Arizona access to the big screen and her audience the comfiest chairs. She was grateful to have ten minutes alone while she plugged her laptop into the projector and sorted through four stacks of paper. Seeing Callie take off that fast had really thrown her and she needed to have her head in the game today.

Bailey hadn’t had much to say about her ex-girlfriend in front of Tucker Jr., so Arizona was left wondering what she had missed in the last three years that would make Callie too frightened to speak. A lot of different scenarios popped into her head and she had no way of knowing if any of them were true. Callie was still someone she thought about over the years, Arizona had just never called her. For the longest time it was too painful and, after the initial mourning period, she got busy living her life again. Turning back the clock had seemed counter-productive, even if Callie still popped into her brain unannounced every once in a while.

The first two people to arrive were Chief Webber and Dr. Jennings from the Board. “Chief,” she greeted with a smile. “It’s good to see a friendly face.”

Webber was beaming as he shook Arizona’s hand. “And it’s nice to have you back, Dr. Robbins. Our Pediatrics department hasn’t been the same since you left.”

That tickled Arizona and she grinned at him before looking to the other gentleman present. “Dr. Jennings, I didn’t expect to see you here, sir.”

The head of the Board of Directors gave her a bland smile that hadn’t become any cheerier over the years. “Webber insisted on it. If we want to spin good press on this I’d better know what the hell I’m talking about, am I right?”

Arizona arched a brow but kept the fake smile plastered to her face. “Er, right. Of course.”

Jennings hiked up his trousers and sat at the head of the table. “Don’t mind me, I’m just here to listen. This clinical trial is fascinating.”

“Are you sure there’s nothing we can say to lure you back?” Richard insisted. “I will call Dr. McHale myself if I have to pay ransom. You can continue your work right here, new office and your own lab. I’m willing to sweeten the deal, just say the word.”

“Richard doesn’t like the new pediatric attending,” Jennings said bluntly. “He’s kind of an asshole.”

Arizona bit back a smirk. “I had the, uh, pleasure of meeting Dr. Stark when I stopped by last night. He wasn’t too happy to see me.”

Webber moved around the table and skimmed the paperwork she had laid out. “Dr. Stark is good at his job, but let’s just say he lacks your bedside manner. Some of the longer term patients still ask about you.”

Arizona loved that but she didn’t dare say anything further on the subject. She didn’t want to bad mouth anyone she would have to work with in the coming months and she was pretty content with her gig at Hopkins. “How many should I be expecting this morning?”

“Dr. Hahn and Dr. Yang should be here any minute to brief you on the patient,” Webber replied, checking his watch. “Have you had a chance to visit with the girl?”

“Unfortunately no,” Arizona said. “That’s my first stop after this meeting. I’d like to see her and her mother, try to ease their minds. It’s a long process and I don’t want anyone expecting lightning-fast results. I’m sure they have a lot of questions.”

“This must be quite a change for you,” Jennings said off-hand, flipping through a report. “Three years in a foreign country, working with the bare minimum, to harvesting and growing stem cells in a state-of-the-art laboratory to regenerate the heart of a seven-year-old. It’s the stuff of fiction. You’re like Mother Theresa or Angelina Jolie or something.”

Arizona let that one slide by. “I ended up only spending two years in Malawi,” she corrected, frowning at her computer while making changes to her presentation. “I’ve been running the pediatrics department at Hopkins for about seven months now.”

“The number one teaching hospital in the country,” Jennings added. “Quite the illustrious career for someone so young. Is the African program over?”

“I still fly out to the clinic two to three times a year to check on it and make sure the funding is going to good use,” Arizona replied. She glanced up from her computer. “If you’re interested, I can brief you on the clinic sometime. We’ve put a ton of work into it.”

“I hear Alex Karev got himself involved after he left Seattle,” Webber added. “Is he still in Baltimore with you?”

“Yep,” Arizona grinned. “He’s in the last year of his fellowship, actually. He’s turning out to be quite a fantastic surgeon and he accompanied me to Malawi once already. Sorry for stealing him,” she added for the Chief’s sake.

Webber planted his hands on his hips. “You still owe me one resident, don’t think I’ve forgotten.”

“I’ll see what I can do,” Arizona laughed.

Having Alex in her department back at Hopkins was really the only reason she felt comfortable leaving Baltimore for so long. She had no way of knowing if she would be here for a few weeks or a few months, and how many trips back east she could manage in between. With him holding the department together, she could focus her energy here in Seattle.

Of course, he was still Alex. His parting words when he’d dropped her off at the airport had been “Good freakin’ luck”. She amended it a little to, “He says hi.”

The door opened and Dr. Hahn arrived. It was impossible to miss the surprise that registered as soon as she saw Arizona. That surprise turned to distain for half an instant, then Erica rounded on Richard.

“I nearly got killed by an intern downstairs,” she complained. “You need to post some ‘No Running in the Halls’ signs because apparently we’re supervising a bunch of kindergarteners around here.”

Arizona reluctantly looked up from her computer, arranging her face into what she hoped was a professional smile. “Dr. Hahn, it’s good to see you.”

“Dr. Robbins,” Erica said coolly, setting her files on the table and shrugging off her jacket. She reached out to shake hands, although it was a token gesture. “How nice of you to fly out here for this case. Unnecessary, but nice.”

Arizona noted the dig. “Hopefully once we’re finished this morning, you’ll feel differently.”

“Doubtful,” Erica muttered as she turned away. Arizona pursed her lips.

“Let’s get started, shall we?” Webber suggested. “I’m sure you both have busy schedules.”

“What about Cristina?” Arizona looked to the door. “Shouldn’t we wait for—?”

“Yang can be filled in later,” Erica interrupted. “If she can’t be bothered to show up on time, that’s not my problem.” She had to fiddle with her patient files a little more than she would’ve liked, given that the soon-to-be-extinct intern had messed up what she’d spent an hour organizing the night before and again this morning. Eventually she passed a thick stack of paper across the table to Dr. Robbins. Arizona noted the coffee stains but kept her mouth shut.

“The patient is a seven-year-old female suffering from cardiac toxicity brought on by the use of anthracyclines during chemotherapy,” Erica started. “She was diagnosed with lymphoma two years ago and underwent aggressive treatment for almost sixteen months before it went into full remission. Unfortunately, the treatment also damaged her cardiovascular system beyond repair and her history with cancer is keeping her from being the top of the donor list. The chance of rejection is too high.”

Arizona furrowed her brow and scanned the information provided. She’d seen it all before but it never hurt to have a refresher. “Her immune system was wiped out and hasn’t had sufficient time to recover. Chances are it won’t with the heart she has now.”

“Which is why keeping her on the transplant list is the best course of action,” Erica agreed. “So, unless you brought a beating heart of the same blood type with you from Baltimore, I’m not really sure why you’re here.”

Arizona smiled blandly, willing herself to keep a level head. She wasn’t opposed to being challenged professionally once in awhile, but certain people doing the challenging in really unnecessary ways tended to get on her nerves. “I trust you met with Dr. Frazer last month when he was here consulting with Allison’s parents. He explained how her saved cord cells would be grown over the course of several weeks.”

“I was in surgery while he was here,” Hahn said. “I’m a busy woman with a lot of patients who aren’t being subjected to unnecessary experimentation.”

Arizona ground her teeth together and was about to respond when the door to the conference room flew open. Four sets of eyes re-directed to Cristina.

“Sorry,” Yang panted, half-stumbling to Hahn’s side. “ICU paged, false alarm. What are we doing?”

“Yang, sit down and be quiet,” Erica barked. “If you can’t be bothered to be here on time, then–”

“It’s okay, Dr. Yang,” Arizona said hurriedly. “We were just getting started.”

Cristina’s eyes shifted between the two attendings, noting the standoffish atmosphere before she sank into the nearest chair. If she didn’t make any sudden movements, maybe they wouldn’t notice her when the violence started.

When she was settled, Arizona continued. “I was explaining to everyone how we’re going to be using the patient’s stored cord blood to inject her with several doses of her own stem cells, with the hopes that they'll regenerate the damaged muscle tissue. There’s also a very good chance it will help in the rebuilding process of her immune system.”

“I was under the impression that _I_ would be leading the debriefing, Richard,” Erica said directly to the Chief. “She hasn’t even seen the patient yet.”

Webber held up a hand. “Just sit and have a listen, Dr. Hahn. Robbins will fill us in on the trial first.”

Hahn looked furious, but she cast a look at Jennings and opted to obey. The listening part, anyway. She remained standing with her arms crossed.

Arizona breathed deeply and continued on. “Dr. Gordon Frazer is the leading surgeon on this clinical trial and Allison Tanner will be only the second minor involved. I was brought on about six months ago when they decided to include a fifteen year old male from New York in the study.”

She turned to the projector and started flipping through slides as she spoke, boasting detailed diagrams, pictures of other surgeries and explanations of the trial’s current successes. Everyone aside from Hahn took a seat but even she begrudgingly sat down after a few minutes.

“Not only was your patient’s immune system eradicated during her chemo treatments, she unfortunately became one of the rare cases where the damage to her heart was pretty severe. A transplant would seem like the ideal choice, but we all know the chances of her receiving one in this condition are slim. And quite frankly, even if she did, I wouldn’t give her more than three to six months to live as an absolute best case scenario. More than likely, she would only survive for a couple of weeks, even if she made it through the transplant surgery.”

Hahn continued to look annoyed but before she could object to anything, Cristina spoke up. “So you’re literally going to try and re-grow her heart inside her own chest.”

“It’s a procedure that’s shown extremely positive results in mice since stem cell research began," Arizona said. "Only recently have human trials begun to utilize this as an option to treat chemo damage. There have been a few cases of successful tissue regeneration in adults that show a really promising prognosis for future patients.”

“Fascinating,” Jennings commented as he pulled out his glasses and studied one of her reports in more detail.

“Dr. Frazer and Dr. McHale brought me on as the leading pediatric surgeon for the trial since it branched out to patients under eighteen.” Arizona brought up some images of the first pediatric patient’s surgery on-screen. “Normally Dr. Frazer isn’t keen on experimental procedures when it comes to children, and neither am I, but in Allison’s case she doesn’t have any other options. Right now her body is too sick to heal itself and with a younger heart like hers, we really believe this might have a chance at prolonging her life.”

“How many surgeries is she looking at?” Webber asked.

“Ideally we want three to four dosages to be administered with several weeks in between each.” Arizona went through more slides. “It all depends on the quality of cells produced in the lab. There may also be some follow-up surgeries if necessary. Dr. Frazer sent out one of his partners last month to extract the sample from the cord bank and work on reproducing more cells. If we have to, we can try to harvest some adult stem cells for an extra round, but given that she’s had a bone marrow transplant once before, that would be a real challenge. We need to cross our fingers that the first sample provides a bare minimum of two doses.”

Jennings, Webber and Cristina shot more questions her way over a period of forty-five minutes, all three of them engaged and genuinely fascinated by the process. Arizona was proud to be a part of this study and knew the results could make a huge difference to future patients. Not since working in Malawi had she felt such a professional satisfaction. She loved her job.

Hahn only spoke when everyone else was finished. “I don’t agree.”

“And what don’t you agree with?” Arizona asked politely.

Erica stood up and leaned her palms into the table. “With subjecting my patient, whom I’ve been working with for the past several months, to this experimental procedure out of left field. You have no way of knowing how her body will handle this - only two other patients in the entire trial had anything resembling the level of chemotherapy she underwent. One of them died.”

“I’m aware of that, Dr. Hahn,” Arizona began slowly, “but the trial is branching out into patients suffering from various degrees of cardiac toxicity. And yes, Allison will be an entirely new type of patient when it comes to this study, especially because of her age. I didn’t jump to the conclusion that she should become a part of the trial within thirty seconds of looking at her scans. If I didn’t think this was in her best interest, I wouldn’t be here.”

“Look, it’s a fascinating process, I’ll give you that,” Hahn allowed, “but I do not agree to it being used on my patient. It’s too early and you know too little.”

“Dr. Hahn,” Jennings said lightly, “Miss Tanner is already a patient of Dr. Robbins’, so you need to wrap your head around that if you want to be involved.”

“She is _my_ patient,” Hahn snapped, looking at the Chief for some form of support. “Richard, I’m telling you this isn’t a good idea. I don’t do bad outcomes and this has bad outcome written all over it.”

Arizona’s eyes widened in disbelief. “Bad outcomes?” she echoed. “My only obligation is to my patient, not your percentage rates.”

“How dare you,” Erica growled. “You can not walk in here like you’re still running the pediatrics department after three years spent squatting in a bush, pretending to play ‘doctor’. Dr. Stark is just as against this as I am and he was with the girl through her entire cancer treatment.”

Arizona bit back a snide remark about just what Hahn and Stark could do with their ill-placed judgment. She was tired and achy from the plane ride and didn’t need a full-blown argument to break out. “No one is forcing you to be a part of the process,” she pointed out. “I have every intention of including or excluding you both to your own liking. The fact of the matter is that Dr. Jennings and Chief Webber have officially signed this patient over to me and the trial is in progress as of this morning. Allison Tanner will remain here at Seattle Grace for the duration of her treatment, but if either of you wish to walk away, no one is stopping you.”

While Jennings chose to sit back and watch, Webber jumped in before things got uglier. “I’ve reviewed the case myself several times, Dr. Hahn,” he said in a loud voice. It didn’t leave much room for argument. “I respect your opinion but we’re going ahead with it. Your patient is in good hands. Dr. Robbins is the best of the best.”

“Richard,” Erica argued. Her whole physique radiated anger. Cristina subconsciously shrank away.

“Dr. Yang, why don’t you go grab everyone here some coffee from the break room?” Jennings spoke up, picking at his nails and acting as though war wasn’t about to break out between the two attendings.

“Seriously?” Cristina was about to point out that she wasn’t an intern but given the way Hahn was looking at Robbins, she’d rather be elsewhere anyway. Getting blood stains out of her lab coat was such a pain in the ass.

“Okay.” She jumped up and didn't look back.

Halfway to the door, she noticed a figure looming through the window, trying to peek around the frame in an inconspicuous manner. She slipped outside and closed the door quietly. “What on earth are you doing?”

Callie was a nervous wreck. “Oh god, this can’t be happening.”

“Your stomach must be one giant circus parade, huh?” Cristina asked wryly. “Man, you have the _worst_ luck.”

“This is just..." Callie felt sick with stress. "How? What did I do? God hates me. That's what this is. H-he's punishing me for the women. I’m doomed.”

“Calm down before you pass out, I'm sure everything will be fine,” Cristina sighed. “Where is the nearest coffee machine?”

“Is that your idea of reassuring?" Callie snapped. "I haven't slept in days and now my girlfriend and ex-girlfriend are working together professionally. I think I'm seeing spots.”

Cristina was only half paying attention while she flipped through the report she’d taken with her. “Look at it this way, they'll probably kill each other before the next time you have to talk to either one of them. Problem solved.”

Callie straightened again and glared at her. “Thank you, that's amazing advice. What would I do without you?”

“Ok, ok,” Cristina shut the file and tucked it back under her arm. She turned to look Callie squarely in the eye. “You really want my advice? Walk with me. I'm on coffee duty.”

Callie cocked an eyebrow. “By choice?”

“Yes, by choice. Do I do things any other way?”

Callie snorted. “You usually scoff when people throw you peon crap.”

“It's called being a bigger person,” Cristina replied coolly. The loud voices emanating from the boardroom faded away the further they got down the hall.

“Since when?”

“Since about five minutes ago.”

Callie let out a small laugh and pushed up her sleeves. “Erica scared you into doing it, didn't she?”

“Jennings, actually. Your girlfriend was in Beast mode so I didn’t argue.”

They made it all the way to the elevators in silence before Callie stopped in place. “Was it really that bad?”

Cristina turned to her while they waited. “I don't know, you tell me. You had your face smushed into the glass like it was a zoo exhibit.”

Callie frowned while trying to form a clever retort but she came up empty. She _was_ kind of pathetic. “I have no idea how I'm supposed to feel right now. My ex and not-ex were in the same room, having it out." The elevator came and they rode in silence, reaching the main floor and migrating to the nearest coffee cart.

“Were you always this whiny?”

“You're supposed to be helping me here,” Callie whined. They ordered coffee for seven and stepped aside to wait.

Cristina rolled her eyes. “Just let it play out. Don't intervene because it will only make things worse. For me," she clarified. “You’re screwed either way.”

"Last night you were _begging_ me to talk to Erica about giving you a spot on this case," Callie shot back. "This morning you were doing the same thing. Now you want me to shut up about it?"

"That was before it became a blood bath. You weren’t in there, Torres. It is _ugly_.

Callie fidgeted with her hands. “So, I shouldn't get involved? I should just act like I don't know Arizona's back when I'm with Erica?"

“No.” Cristina paid for the coffees and asked for an expense receipt. “It's just going to seem like you're taking sides.” She really did not want to get stuck in a mud slinging competition. She had her own problems to deal with, but if helping Callie cope with her predicament kept her from being lined up in front of a firing squad, so be it.

Several minutes passed. “What if it comes up while we're at home?” Callie asked. She fixated on a piece of pound cake but didn’t dare touch it, let alone pick it up and purchase it.

“Ignore her. That shouldn't be hard, you've mastered it already.” Cristina shoved one tray into Callie’s hands and grabbed another.

“Okay, I can do that. Play it cool, don't get involved.” Callie thought about it and that didn’t seem too crazy.

There was also the option of stepping onto the next lunar shuttle launched into outer space. That was a close number two.

“If this blows up in my face, I'll feed you to Erica personally,” Callie clarified. “Then I'll break all your bones. Got it?”

“Oh so scary,” Cristina mocked in baritone.

Callie really tried to psych herself up for this. A nervous smile formed the longer she thought about it - she could _totally_ do this. Ignoring the problem was a special skill of hers these days. What was one more non-conversation between her and her girlfriend? There were plenty of those already in progress. And Arizona, they never even crossed paths professionally in this type of situation. She was free and clear of all the awkward conversations she didn’t want to have.

Cristina, on the other hand, was beginning to reconsider her advice the more she read of the report she’d stolen. There was definitely room for her name on anything that got published out of this and having that kind of street cred would never rub off.

As they reached their floor, she slammed the file shut. “Nope!”

Callie glanced over her shoulder in confusion. “What?”

Cristina looked straight ahead at the closed doors, allowing her mind to run away on one of its brilliant tangents. “Don't ignore the problem, Torres. Ignoring the problem is for babies.”

Callie blinked. “Are you okay?”

"I'm amazing, that’s the whole point.” Cristina abruptly turned and faced her. “Hey, speaking of - I need a favour!"

That was subtle. Callie grew suspicious.” What?” she asked carefully.

Agony was pooling in the pit of Cristina’s stomach. She knew if she pursued what she wanted here, she would be opening the proverbial can of worms. While Robbins' presentation had been interesting, having a chance to think about it away from her monster of a boss allowed the implications to really sink in. They were astronomical. This was the chance she had been waiting for all year, all her _career_.

Callie kept staring. “What is up with you? You're acting weird. Weirder than usual.”

Cristina straightened up. “So here's the thing—"

"Oh no…”

“I need a favor. It might involve ignoring everything else I just told you."

“Might?” Callie echoed.

Cristina stepped in front of her and hit the emergency stop button.

“Uh—”

“You should talk to her,” she stated. “Robbins. You know how stressed out you get when you avoid things, so maybe it’s just better to stick your foot in the fire or whatever. Say hi, make nice. Tell her she’s a bitch for abandoning you three years ago. Either way, could you try and slip in a good word for me while you're at it?”

Callie narrowed her eyes. “I can see where this is going, Cristina.”

Yang waved the case file in her face. “This trial is way better than I thought it was! With my luck, Hahn will cock-block me from getting anywhere near it. That’s where you come in with your handy-dandy connections.”

Callie leaned against the back handrail. “Do you ever do anything because it's the nice thing to do, or is it always to selfishly promote your own agenda?”

"You do this for me and I'll return the favor.”

"Oh yeah? How?"

“Easy. I’ll spy on them for you.”

Callie scoffed. “Yeah, because I’m so petty that I’ll trade my soul for gossip. No thanks.”

"If I'm on this trial, I could keep an ear open to what's going on between Blondie and Cruella De Vil,” Cristina said slowly, willing to spell it out as much as necessary. “Report back to you and all that good, ooey-gooey, gossipy crap."

It would be a lot easier to walk through the minefield with a map, Callie had to admit. But agreeing to this meant that she would have to be the one to initiate a conversation with Arizona, and if she was being completely honest with herself, she wasn't sure she had the guts to do it this soon. Having insight into just what the hell was going on would make her a lot less likely to get firebombed at home either way.

Callie groaned out loud. Somehow she found herself opening her mouth and agreeing to this insane idea. “ _Fine_ , but I'm not promising anything. I will mention it to her if we speak. _If._ Satisfied?”

Cristina puffed up triumphantly. “Very much, thank you." She pushed the stop button back in and the elevator hummed to life.

“Just remember that I have no control over what Erica says or does with her job, so if you're as serious about this trial as you say you are, don't piss her off. Then it won't matter whether or not Arizona's in your corner.” Callie shoved by Yang as soon as the doors popped.

Oh, hell. What had she just gotten herself into?

***

The morning meeting had gone about as well as Arizona expected it to - not great, not completely awful, either. Webber and Jennings were fully on board, only Erica was going out of her way to make things difficult. Arizona knew she just had to grin and bear it, that Hahn and Stark could complicate things, but she would manage no matter what happened. Her concern was for her patient – not their egos.

It was only noon and she was already exhausted, so she opted for a quick lunch before meeting her patient in the pediatrics wing. She slowed to a tip-toe outside of the room and peeked in to make sure she wasn’t about to wake anybody up. A girl she presumed to be Allison Tanner was in bed with her mother seated beside her, both awake, so she knocked gently on the door frame.

“Mrs. Tanner? Allison?” Arizona stepped inside and gave them a friendly smile. “My name is Dr. Robbins, we spoke on the phone last week?”

The woman rose from her perch on Allison's bed and extended a hand to introduce herself. “Call me Sarah, please. It's nice to finally meet you. We've heard a lot about you from Dr. Webber."

Arizona closed the door behind her to give them some privacy. She gestured for Mrs. Tanner to sit down and pulled up the extra chair across from her, though she remained standing for now. Her focus turned to the scared child eyeballing her from the bed. "It's nice to finally meet you, Allison.”

"Hi," the girl replied shyly.

Arizona smiled at her. “That's a really pretty bow you have in your hair today. Did you make it yourself?”

Allison didn't offer a verbal reply but nodded in agreement. She reached for her mother's hand and Sarah Tanner wrapped it in her own.

“She makes me change the color daily," said the girl’s mother. "Today she wanted to put on her special pink bow just for you, Dr. Robbins. Isn't that right, Ally?”

Arizona’s smile broadened. “Well, Allison, it just so happens that pink is my favorite color,” she teased.

“Really?” The seven-year-old seemed to perk up. “Do you like bows too, Dr. Robbins?”

“I do like bows. And please, you can call me Arizona.” Allison wrinkled her nose and it made Arizona laugh. “I know, it’s silly name, but it’s the one my daddy gave me. I was named after a boat.”

Giggling, Allison beamed up at her mother. “She’s funny.”

Happy to see her patient relaxing, Arizona took the most recent chart from the foot of the bed and looked it over. “How have you been feeling today, Ally? I heard you had a rough night.”

“My tummy hurts,” Allison pouted. “And I couldn’t breathe last night so Mommy brought me here.”

“I’m sorry,” Arizona said, furrowing her brow as she scanned what was scribbled down by a resident. She really needed to get someone on this case that could write legibly. “I’ll see if there’s something I can give you to help your tummy.”

She glanced at Mrs. Tanner. “Did she manage to eat anything this morning?”

Sarah shook her head. “Barely. The only time I can get her to eat something is if it's shaped like some kind of zoo animal. Animal crackers have been a favorite as of late,” she said with a half smile. “She keeps saying she's not hungry and I keep telling her she needs to at least try to eat something. It's an exhausting back and forth." She playfully pinched her daughter, earning a squeak of protest. “You're so stubborn, Ally.”

“I like cookies,” Allison argued. “But they’re not green, so Mommy says I can’t have them right now.”

Arizona liked that Allison was in good spirits despite her situation. She would need that kind of attitude given how many surgeries lay ahead. “Well, we've got her going with a steady dose of IV fluids, so she's staying hydrated at least. I'll see if I can round up some animal crackers after we're done here.”

"Don't want any," the girl said tiredly.

Arizona frowned. “What if we got you some pink jello? It's super yummy. My personal favourite."

Allison hummed. “Jello wiggles.”

“It tastes like watermelon,” Arizona drawled. “I know your mommy would feel _so_ much better if she saw you eat something.”

Allison dropped her gaze, turning shy again. “Okay.”

“Good girl,” Arizona smiled. “In the meantime I’ll try to find a good substitute for animal crackers.”

Sarah looked apprehensive as Arizona checked some of her daughter’s fluid levels and wrote a few things down. She always preferred to let her patients relax around her before launching into the medical stuff. Kids were smarter than a lot of doctors gave them credit for, they knew what was going on around them.

“So,” Arizona started. “I’m sure you’ve heard a lot of scary doctor talk over the last few weeks. If you have any questions, you can ask me at any time, okay?”

Allison bit her lip. “Are you my doctor now? ‘Cause the other lady was meaner.”

Arizona had to chuckle at that. She couldn’t imagine Erica Hahn handling kids very well – or Stark for that matter. How he became a pediatric surgeon was beyond her. “Yep, I’m your new doctor. Dr. Hahn and Dr. Stark will still be around, but I’m going to be the one taking care of you from now on. Are you okay with that?”

Allison's face lit up. “Yeah! 'Cause you like bows and pink and jello and you don't talk like a robot.”

“Ally!” Sarah admonished. “I'm sorry, Dr. Robbins. She knows better than to be rude.”

The little girl shrugged in defense. “What? It's true.”

Arizona fought back a laugh. “I’m sure we’ll get along just fine,” she agreed with a playful wink. “Besides, I also heard from one of the nurses that you like to ride horses. I used to ride when I was your age, too.”

Allison’s eyes lit up and for a moment she didn’t look like a sick little girl who had been through hell. “I _love_ horses!”

They spent a few minutes chatting about show jumping and favourite breeds, various world equestrian champions and other nerdy horse stuff. Arizona took the opportunity while Allison was distracted to retake some of her vitals and she switched out IV bags for the afternoon dosage.

When she was confident that Allison was at ease, Arizona took a seat and crossed her legs. “I know you’re probably sick of all this doctor mumbo-jumbo stuff, but if you’re okay with it, I’d like to talk to you and your mom about a few things.”

Allison shot her mother a scared look and Sarah nodded reassuringly. “It’s okay, honey.”

There was no need to go into deeper detail with Allison present; Arizona would talk more extensively with Sarah Tanner when her daughter was asleep. For now she stuck to the basics, about how Allison’s heart was sick and she had a new and kind of cool idea on how to make it better.

“Will it make me throw up again?” the girl pouted. “The other medicine made me throw up a lot.”

“No, this is different than what you went through before,” Arizona said. “The chemotherapy is what made you sick, but this is like medicine specifically for your heart. It’s actually kind of cool because you’re going to use your own cells to heal yourself. Not many people can do that, so you’re a pretty special girl, Ally.”

Allison pushed herself to sit up more. “How?”

“When you were a baby, the doctors kept some of your umbilical cord, which is what connected you and your mom before you were born,” Arizona explained, indicating Allison’s navel. “The tiny cells inside of it are very good at healing sick people, and because they’re yours, they’re perfect for what I need. I’m going to use them to help your heart get better and in the meantime we’re going to try to make more in one of the labs upstairs. Pretty cool, huh?”

Allison frowned, not fully understanding it all but getting the gist of it. The doctor lady seemed happy so that was good enough for her. “Does that mean I’ll get better?

Arizona considered her words carefully. “I’m going to do my very best to make sure that you do,” she said, nodding with encouragement. It was the closest she could come to a promise. “I need you to help me out with a few things along the way.”

Allison bit her lip. “What?”

“First, I need you to promise me that you’ll get lots and lots of sleep. That will give your heart more time to heal.” Arizona lifted a brow. “And secondly, I need you to do your best to eat for me and your mommy. Okay?”

Allison heaved a sigh worthy of Broadway but in the end she agreed to the deal.

Arizona smiled again and turned the subject back to the World Equestrian Games coming up next year. Allison had earned a break for now.

***

Erica was only at the halfway point of her shift and she’d already had it with everyone in the building. She was beyond furious at the state of the Tanner case and none too happy with who was taking over. Robbins was content to butt heads with her on every little detail and it was driving her nuts. She’d never liked the woman to begin with and that wasn’t going to change any time soon. Getting booted from her own case in favour of Arizona was beyond humiliating.

Despite all that, Allison Tanner was still her patient and she wanted to see Sarah Tanner and her daughter. Even if she didn’t agree with the new course of treatment, she wanted to make sure the handover was going smoothly. If it wasn’t, then she wanted to see Robbins crash and burn first hand. Just not at the expense of a child.

Erica stopped herself from bursting through the closed door when she arrived up in pediatrics. She realized that barreling inside, fuming the way she was, would most assuredly get her kicked off the case entirely. So, despite how magnanimously pissed she was at the entire situation, she retreated to the desk and settled for waiting where she could spy through the window of Allison's room.

It came as no surprise that she didn't like what she saw - Robbins had to have been one hell of a comedian judging by how hard Allison and her mother were laughing. That annoyed the hell out of her.

“Stupid bitch,” Erica growled under her breath.

“And just who do you think you're calling names?”

Erica started and whipped around to spot Dr. Bailey behind her.

“Well?” Bailey demanded.

Erica felt a flush of regret at getting caught. “Dr. Bailey, I apologize. I didn't know anyone was here.”

“Mm-hmm.” Bailey’s disapproval failed to dissipate, though she went back to searching for a file on the desk.

Erica knew better than to throw down with Miranda Bailey. There were some fights you were just guaranteed to lose and bickering with her was one of them. Besides, she did respect Bailey as a surgeon and she was one of the few people she liked working with.

“I’m sorry, I am, I’m just frustrated. Richard has completely disregarded my opinion on this case.” Erica shot a nasty look through the window. “And that’s not even the bigger half of it. He calls roller skate Barbie in to take over and makes me look like a fool in the process.”

Bailey hardly glanced up. “Do I look like I want to listen to your problems?”

Erica wasn’t paying a whole lot of attention either. “Robbins, she’s - she’s out of control. Not to mention unprofessional. She argues every single detail to death while refusing to consider my opinions. Bottom line, she’s going to get that little girl killed, I swear it.”

That got Bailey’s attention. “Robbins? You mean Callie’s Robbins?”

Erica looked disgusted. “What kind of serious surgeon wears roller skates for shoes? In a hospital no less.” It didn’t matter to her that there was no sign of said shoes on this visit. Erica remembered them well during their professional crossover.

“ _You_ are working with Robbins? _Arizona_ Robbins?” Bailey let out a bark of laughter.

Erica huffed. “That’s funny to you?”

Bailey set her files down, granting her full attention to Erica. “A piece of advice - I hated Robbins when she came here the first time around. It got me nowhere. The Chief likes her, the staff love her, and eventually we even got along. She knows what she’s doing and it sounds like she’s not going anywhere, so you had better suck it up and deal with it. Trust me, it’s a waste of time and energy otherwise. Now leave me alone, I’m busy.”

“She’s already trying to take--”

Bailey stuck her hand out, shushing Erica. “Are you deaf? I am not your therapist. I gave you the one piece of advice that will keep you from getting thrown off the case.” She cocked an eyebrow and waited for Erica to leave. “Just let it go. Focus on your own patients and stop harping on this. _Go._.”

Erica grumbled unhappily and glanced into Allison’s room one more time. As much as she hated everything that had transpired, Bailey did have a point. It was better she stick around to keep an eye on Robbins than leave all together.

Before she could make a complete fool of herself, Erica pushed off the desk and walked away.

For now.

***

Arizona spent the majority of an hour with Allison and her mother. By the time they were finished discussing the basics, the little girl was exhausted and drifted off to sleep. Arizona recommended that Mrs. Tanner get some rest herself and to make sure she remembered to monitor her own eating habits - they were in for the long haul now and Allison needed her mother by her side, healthy and well-rested.

The kinks were starting to settled in her shoulders when Arizona made her way to the desk Bailey was parked at. “Hey," she said cheerfully, extracting an elastic from her pocket and pulling her hair into a messy ponytail.

"Whatever it is, the answer is no," Bailey said without looking up.

Arizona frowned. "Gee, good to know where I stand today." She fiddled with a stack of paperwork Mrs. Tanner had just signed, organizing it into sections along the countertop.

Bailey was beginning to think she would escape the peds floor without any more people talking at her when Robbins suddenly began to speak again.

"She's avoiding me, you know," Arizona said hesitantly. "Callie. I've seen her twice and all she's done is run away."

"Mm-hm," Bailey murmured. If she acted disinterested, maybe this one would be smart enough to take the hint.

"I mean, okay, when we split it was…hard, but that was nearly three years ago, y'know?" That was the infuriating part. Arizona sighed. "I was hoping we could at least talk. I want to see how she's doing."

Bailey remained silent.

"It would be much less awkward if she just stopped avoiding me and we got it over with. All I wanted to do was say hi." Arizona twirled a pen between her fingers. "What kind of grown woman avoids someone? It's childish."

Realizing that she wasn't about to escape any time soon, Bailey exhaled and set down her pencil. "Look, Torres has a lot going on these days."

"Don't we all," Arizona mumbled unhappily.

"It's a little more complicated than that," Bailey urged. "Just trust me, she's a busy woman and seeing you again was the last thing on her mind. I’m sure you two will talk eventually, so stop talking to me about it instead."

"Yeah, I guess," Arizona allowed. She checked her watch. "I've got a conference call in fifteen minutes with Hopkins, I'd better go grab a coffee if they want me awake for it." She gathered her papers. "If you see Callie, tell her to grow a pair and come talk to me."

Bailey rolled her eyes and watched Arizona go. "Tell her yourself.”

***

Arizona was swept away in a pile of paperwork and formal meetings for the rest of the afternoon, running from one location to the next without so much as a bathroom break in between. It was almost six o’clock by the time her final conference call to the other trial doctors wrapped and she was ready to go home and get some sleep. Technically speaking her 'home' was thousands of miles away on the opposite coast; the temporary living arrangement was a fancy hotel room that lacked the coziness of her old apartment. Other than the mini bar, she had no company and would probably end up watching movies on pay-per-view or something equally as boring.

She was alone in the boardroom and waited for every call line to disconnect with the exception of one. Once they were alone, Arizona took the phone off of speaker and put the receiver to her ear.

_”Is it weird?”_ Karev asked.

Arizona contemplated the numerous ways to answer that. “Weird is one way of putting it. Bizarre and a little uncomfortable is another.”

_“Webber will be kissing your ass the whole time you’re there while everyone else wonders what the hell you’re doing back.”_ Alex sounded amused at his boss’ expense. _“Hahn was a nightmare to work with before she left.”_

“She hasn’t changed much,” Arizona mumbled. “But the patient is officially under my care, so there’s not a whole lot anyone can do about it. At least the Chief is on my side, same with Jennings.”

_“Have you talked to Torres yet?”_

Arizona groaned and rubbed her forehead. “No. She’s avoiding me, which…whatever,” she said flippantly. “I’ve got other things on my mind. We don’t need to talk if this is how she feels.”

Alex snorted. _“Yeah, good luck with that. That place is cesspool of drama. At some point you two will have a screaming match in public, that’s how it works. Nobody ever does anything in private.”_

“How are things over there?” Arizona cut in. They really needed to change the subject. “Are you keeping my peds unit in one piece?” She relaxed into her seat and listened to Alex rattle off a list of things he was dealing with and updates on her patients. Despite the fact that he was still a surgical fellow, she knew this was a good experience for him. He would run the department himself one day.

At one point he covered the speaker on his end and muffled voices reached Arizona’s ears. She waited patiently for him to come back on. _“Look, I’ve gotta go. Let me know how things with the kid turn out. Say hi to Torres in between awkward silences.”_

“Will do, Karev. Bye.” As soon as they hung up, Arizona dropped her head against the chair and closed her eyes. Today had been absolutely draining.

It took a good thirty seconds before she mustered up the energy to stand and gather her things. There hadn’t been a need to wear scrubs today, so she bypassed the attendings lounge and headed straight for the elevators. Room service, a fluffy white robe and a tiny bottle of liqueur awaited. It was probably fifteen dollars and wouldn’t so much as make her sleepy, but it was something.

Rounding a corner, Arizona immediately set eyes on Callie standing a small distance away. She stopped short. Callie was rummaging through her purse for something, dressed to go home for the day, and had yet to notice her. Arizona debated going back the way she came before her ex looked up - if Callie wanted to avoid all contact, well then, that was her choice. Arizona wasn’t about to force herself on her.

Somehow her brain failed to communicate that to her feet and suddenly she found herself charging ahead, ready to block off Callie’s escape route. Her boots clicked noisily against the floor as she marched on and announced her presence.

Callie barely had time to look up before Arizona appeared out of nowhere and launched into a barrage of accusations.

“You’re avoiding me,” were the first words out of her mouth. To her credit, she kept up the confident appearance even though she was a mess on the inside. “And don’t say that you’re not because I know you are. I’ve seen you popping in and out of my line of vision all day before you disappear in the opposite direction.”

Callie resembled a deer in the headlights of a spaceship, unsure what was happening or how to react. She tried to come up with an appropriate response only for Arizona to barrel full steam ahead.

Arizona knew she would lose her nerve if she didn’t get this out now. “I don’t think you should be avoiding me, Callie. We don’t have to act like things aren’t totally and completely weird with me showing up out of the blue, but avoiding is, is… _stupid_.” Her frown deepened and she adjusted her purse. “It’s weird for you and it’s weird for me but I’m here and I’m going to be here for a while, so we should just get the weirdness out of the way before it gets any weirder. Okay?” She released a hard breath and wished she hadn’t said ‘weird’ so many times.

Callie’s mouth hovered open long enough for a bird to nest before she settled on ,“Uh...hi?”

The faintest of smiles appeared “Hi,” Arizona echoed. Callie didn’t add anything to her comment, so she tried again. “Look, I’m sorry to jump at you. I’m also sorry for not giving you a heads up that I was coming.” She fiddled with her purse strap for something to do. “It’s been almost three years, I know you’ve moved on and you shouldn’t have to feel like we can’t talk anymore. We can talk, or at least I hope we can. Even if it’s been forever and a part of me was anxious about running into you again, we’ve always been able to talk. We’re good at...at talking.”

They were making a great example of that now, what with her babbling and Callie’s newly-acquired mime routine.

Callie bit her lip, totally blanking on what she was supposed to say to that. Even after a day of thinking about nothing else, she was completely off balance thanks to Arizona’s presence back in Seattle. If she thought she could get away with postponing this conversation until the morning, she would try, but Arizona would probably just chase her down the hallway and tackle her like a linebacker. She was a persistent woman; Callie had always really liked that about her.

Arizona released a shaky breath and held Callie’s gaze, waiting for some kind of response - _any_ kind so long as it didn't involve her hightailing it in the opposite direction. Her initial firestorm of confidence had rapidly fizzled out. "Could you just say something? Please? I’m at a loss here.”

Callie gathered herself and finally found her voice. "I’m sorry, you’re right. You’re right, we should talk. Especially if you’re here for a while, we should definitely...t-talk.” She shot a nervous glance through the window next to them, the one Arizona had yet to notice. “There’s a _lot_ to talk about.”

Well, that was something. Arizona nodded encouragingly. “Yeah, okay. I’m free now, if you want to grab a drink.”

Callie chomped on her bottom lip. “Now isn’t really a good time. Maybe-”

“Dr. Torres, you’re a few minutes early.”

They turned in unison to the source of the voice. Callie closed her eyes while Arizona’s nearly fell out of her head.

One of the daycare workers Arizona recognized brushed by with a tiny human of the infant variety in her arms. She was beaming at Callie and thrust the child she was holding at her.

“She was a little fussy this morning but her afternoon nap seemed to calm her down,” the woman said with a smile, unshouldering a diaper bag and handing it over.

Arizona’s mouth involuntarily hung open, staring at the baby that looked exactly like her ex-girlfriend.

It was safe to say that the ice had been broken.

Callie thanked the attendant and adjusted the child in her arms, then diverted her full attention back to Arizona when they were alone again. By the looks of things, she was having difficulty breathing.

“Arizona,” Callie spoke quietly, feeling most of the tension drain from her limbs. The cat was out of the bag, so to speak. This wasn’t how she’d imagined her ex finding out about her new foray into motherhood.

Arizona was stunned. She tried to vocalize her thoughts but was barely able to form them in her head, let alone out loud. Of all the things she had been expecting to return to, this was definitely not one of them. In retrospect, that was pretty dumb on her part.

The infant began to squirm, prompting Callie to lightly bounce her up and down in her arms, earning a squeal of approval. She took one cautious step forward, causing Arizona to have a knee-jerk reaction and retreat back a few inches. Callie's heart sank - she knew Arizona didn't want kids but even for her this was uncharacteristic behavior. She tried to chalk it up to the the ultimate surprise that had just been dropped into her lap. Callie gathered the courage to try this again - she wanted Arizona to know her daughter, even if it was only for a few seconds.

Perched in Callie's warm embrace, the baby looked squarely at the new stranger and giggled an all-gum grin. “Arizona, this is Sofia,” Callie said apprehensively.

It took another two or three seconds but Arizona finally shook out of her stupor. She hadn’t exactly been planning this; her brain had ceased all function the moment she saw that Callie was a mom.

It made perfect sense, of course. Callie wanted a baby and just because Arizona was once a part of her life didn’t mean she expected a formal announcement in the mail. They had broken up because of this very reason. Three years was a _long_ time.

Her gaze drifted from Sofia to Callie and back again. Sofia’s big brown eyes bore into her and Arizona felt just the faintest smile tugging at the corner of her mouth. “Hi,” she whispered, holding up a hand. Sofia latched onto her index finger.

“Da!” Sofia gave the digit a small tug and snort-giggled, kicking her feet.

Arizona started to feel a little more functional now that the initial shock was wearing off. Her brain was still at a ten on a scale of one to five, but she found her voice.

“She’s beautiful, Calliope,” she said warmly, shaking her head with disbelief. “She looks just like you.” From the eyes to the cheeks to Sofia’s smile, she looked exactly like her momma in miniature form.

“Thanks,” Callie mused, bouncing Sofia again. “I like to think so, right babe?” Sofia babbled her agreement.

Disappointed in her own behavior, Arizona offered the pair an apologetic smile. “Congratulations, Calliope. I’m sorry, I didn’t know.”

Callie shifted a squirmy Sofia in her arms before replying. “Honestly, not many people did. It was something I kept to myself for a while. Y'know, until it became too obvious to hide.” She tugged on Sofia’s foot and chose her next words carefully. She wanted to say this right. “Making the decision to become a single mom was something that weighed on me for quite a while after you left. At first I wasn't totally convinced that I could do it alone. I mean, babies are a ton of work and I didn't have experience to fall back on in case I fell flat on my face.”

“You never fall flat on your face,” Arizona pointed out. “Stumble, maybe, flail a little sometimes, but you have this uncanny ability to kick ass and land on your feet.” She balked at her word choice and shot Sofia a quick look. “Sorry, _butt_.”

Callie's heart started pounding all over again. “To tell you the truth, I think I was more scared that I wasn't going to have someone to share this wonderful experience with than the fact that I actually had this whole other person to take care of. Stupid, huh?”

That was an odd choice of words. Arizona tilted her head, curious to know more, but Sofia twisted around and poked Callie in the nose. She looked bored with the adult conversation going on around her. Even though she couldn’t have been more than six or seven months old at most, she had the same pout as her mother, right down to her gorgeous little cheeks. Even though she was still quite a bit shell-shocked at the revelation, Arizona was only human – that kid was pretty damn cute.

Her gaze shifted from the baby to her former lover, who simply grinned and played with Sofia’s foot in return. It would be clear to anyone that looked at the pair how much Callie loved her daughter.

“I always knew you’d be a great mom,” Arizona said quietly, trying to ignore the sadness suddenly lumped in her chest. Her eyes drifted down as Sofia honed in on the silver chain around Callie’s neck, a tiny fist pinching the necklace to try and get a good grip on it. Arizona would have laughed at the perplexed expression on the baby’s face except that she noticed the particular necklace she was interested in.

Surprised, Arizona’s gaze shot back to Callie, unsure how to ask the question burning at the tip of her tongue.

Callie calmed Sofia's hand and brought her eyes up to meet Arizona's. “What?”

Arizona had a hard time finding her voice again. She slowly lifted a hand to point at the chain around Callie's neck. “You, um. You’re still – you're wearing our – I mean, your - t-the necklace,” she stuttered.

Callie had almost forgotten about it. “Oh, yeah.” She looked down at Sofia who instinctively reached her chubby little hand up to touch her mother's face. The act gave Callie the extra courage she needed to answer Arizona's question. “It reminds me of how happy I was back then. I didn’t wear it for the longest time, but I didn’t want to get rid of it when you moved away, either. And Sofia really likes it, so…I hope that’s not weird or anything,” she added.

“No, it’s not weird. I’m just surprised.” Arizona’s face fell. “I lost mine in the move. I’ve looked everywhere since then, but…”

Callie’s shoulders dropped. That hurt more than she would have expected it to. “Oh.”

Another bout of silence descended around them, only broken by the occasional gurgle coming from Sofia.

It was Arizona who finally spoke up. “I should probably go. I've got a lot of prep work to do for this trial.”

“Oh, okay,” Callie said softly. She did her best to hide her disappointment. She wanted to know more about this trial and why Arizona was suddenly back in Seattle for it, but she recognized the other woman’s need to get away and process things. It was a lot of information in one go. “I guess I'll see you around? You’re here tomorrow?”

Arizona managed a half-hearted smile. “Yeah, for sure. I’ll see you around, Calliope.” She gave Sofia a small wink and turned away. She couldn’t quite bring herself to look over her shoulder as she retreated.

Callie released a hard gust of air and gave up trying to decide whether Arizona’s pace could be considered a run or not. “Well, I guess that could've gone worse, huh baby girl?” She kissed Sofia lightly on her temple, watching Arizona disappear from view. “C’mon, let’s get you home and into the bath.”


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Arizona’s second evening in Seattle was much more restless than the first. Whereas before she was too jet-lagged to stay up worrying over her return, now she couldn’t stop thinking about Callie and her baby. Not just any baby, either - a cute, squishy, happy baby that adored her mother and was obviously adored in return. It was hard for Arizona to feel anything other than warm and fuzzy towards Sofia when the infant was the spitting image of her former girlfriend - rounded cheeks, sparkling eyes; even her smile screamed Torres dynamo. Every single one of Arizona’s weaknesses was rolled up into one pint-sized package. The odds were stacked against her.

Even so, the cuteness factor didn’t soften the blow. Arizona berated herself for being so surprised that Callie had done exactly what she had always said she would do. It was why they had broken up in the first place, yet not once had she considered the possibility of Callie having a family before she came back to Seattle. The oversight made her feel pretty stupid in retrospect.

With her stomach in knots and the awkward confrontation playing on repeat in her mind, Arizona spent most of the night either staring at the ceiling or rolling between sides of the bed. The sun was starting to peek through the curtains when she finally realized that she wasn’t capable of letting matters slide. If the next few months were going to be remotely bearable, their baggage had to be dealt with. There were only a finite number of hiding places inside the hospital and, at some point during her stay, Arizona was bound to run into Callie, probably when she least expected it and at a moment where making a fool of herself would be extremely inconvenient. She’d done a fine job of that last night as it was, there was no sense in making it worse.

When morning finally came, Arizona picked up the phone and hoped Callie hadn’t changed her number in the last three years. Sifting the digits from the dregs of her mind only took a minute despite how long it had been since she’d last dialed them. As soon as the clock struck eight, she pressed send and waited for a response.

Four rings went by, then a groggy _“Hello?”_.

It was definitely Callie’s voice, recognizable even when muffled by a pillow. The tone brought Arizona back to how disoriented her ex usually was at this time of the morning and she found herself smiling. There were many things that Callie Torres was; a morning person definitely not among them.

“Calliope, hi. It’s Arizona. Robbins,” she added, immediately cringing at how foolish she sounded. How many other Arizonas would Callie know? “I’m not calling too early, am I?”

Callie had woken out of a dead sleep and answered more on a surgeon’s reflex than her own desire for conversation. Hearing Arizona’s voice on the line was about the only reason she didn’t tell the caller to shove it and hang up. “Hey,” she managed through a heavy yawn, taking a quick peek at the alarm clock. All four numbers were blurry. “No, no, I’m...I’m awake. Really.”

That probably would have come across more convincing if she hadn’t sounded like she smoked six packs a day. An errant hand swiped across her mouth and she realized there was even drool. Perfect.

“Yeah, you sound like it,” Arizona teased, chuckling into the phone. “I bet you’ve been up for _hours_.”

“Mm-hm,” Callie said through another yawn. She brushed off the duvet, abandoning her warm cocoon and casting a quick glance to her left. Erica was fast asleep, so she stumbled out of the bedroom and pulled the door closed behind her, barely cracking an eye open for navigation. “Just give me a second, okay?”

“Sure thing.” Arizona sat back and waited; she figured she owed Callie that much.

Callie stuck the phone in her shorts and padded into the kitchen to pour a cup of coffee. The wonders of timer-programmed coffee machines never ceased to earn her undying gratitude, especially on mornings like these.

With a mug in hand, she was able to settle on the couch without incident and wrapped herself up in her favorite afghan. She was still only functioning around the twenty-percent mark and the sheer relief of sitting down again nearly made her forget that she was on the phone in the first place.

“Okay, I’m here now,” Callie began. “And I’m glad that you called, I felt bad after last night. That wasn’t how I wanted you to find out about Sofia.”

Arizona felt a rumbling in her stomach that she was positive had nothing to do with food. It was a relief to not be hung up on, but hearing that Callie actually wanted to speak to her was encouraging. “Me too. That wasn’t exactly how I wanted to say ‘hello’, either.”

Callie had no grand ideas on how to ease into the conversation, knowing that any other topic would be skirting around the whole ‘I have a baby’ thing. For such a tiny person, her daughter was turning into an over-sized elephant in the room - or her nursery, to be more precise. So she licked her lips and decided to tread carefully in the best interests of them both.

“Are you at work this morning?”

Arizona picked at the comforter draped across her lap, her back propped up against a mound of pillows. “No, I’m in my hotel. I’ve got a really long day ahead so I’m not going in until later this morning. I figure it’ll give Dr. Stark a chance to finish his rounds and get preoccupied with something other than breathing down my neck.” As a general rule, Arizona didn’t talk poorly about her colleagues, but she’d had a rough first day and Callie had always been a person she could vent to.

“Oh yeah, he’s a piece of work,” Callie readily agreed. “I swear he’s only in pediatrics because he gets his jollies making kids cry.”

It was good to know that it wasn’t just Arizona Stark seemed to despise. She thought about asking for more details on him but knew they could easily segway into small talk instead of getting into the important issues. That wouldn’t clear anything up, so she switched the phone to her other ear and cut to the chase. “Look, I know this is probably weird, me calling you like this. I didn’t know if I’d see you at work today and after last night…”

The situation was a little bizarre. “No, it’s not weird at all,” Callie lied. “Really, minimal on the weird.”

“You’re sweet,” Arizona sighed, pulling the comforter under her arms. “Do you think we could talk? In person? I want to apologize for my behavior, maybe buy you breakfast or something.”

“Arizona, you don’t have to apologize,” Callie started to protest.

“No, I do, really. I cornered you, and there was ranting, and then I probably looked like Sofia hit me with a mac truck and it was all very ugly,” Arizona said.

“You were caught off guard.”

That was one way of putting it. “I don’t want things to be ugly while I’m here,” she urged. “I’ll buy you breakfast and then we can catch up properly. It doesn’t even have to be today, obviously you’ve got a kid now, so it’s not like I just expect you to drop everything. Whenever it fits in your schedule.”

Callie took a second to sort out her thoughts. If someone had asked her three days ago whether she’d be having breakfast with Arizona again, she would have laughed, but now that the opportunity was here it was pretty hard to turn down. There were also complications that came along with it - like the whole issue of what Erica would think. Callie wasn’t oblivious to the tension at work and her girlfriend’s involvement in it.

Still, in her mind, there was no rule that said breakfast with ex-girlfriends was forbidden, not if it was innocent. It was the least sexy meal of the day - no candles, no fancy outfits, no muss, no fuss. She could show up in her pajamas and they could sit in a room full of people with screaming children and eat bagels. Where was the harm in that?

Callie did her best to ignore the queasy feeling in her belly and cast an eye at the bedroom door. Waking Erica now to ask for permission would only make things more awkward, especially after what Cristina had witnessed in the boardroom, and Callie couldn’t say no and expect the rest of Arizona’s visit to go smoothly. Avoiding each other was only going to make things worse for everyone involved, Erica included, so she made the executive decision to answer now and explain things later.

“I think today could work. It would be nice to catch up like normal people, no skulking involved.”

“No skulking, that’s a promise,” Arizona grinned.

“And I like to eat, so that’s a bonus.”

“I like to eat too. Imagine that.”

“Also, you kind of woke me up on a morning I don’t have to go in,” Callie drawled. By now she wasn’t trying to talk herself into it anymore, she was already on board with the plan.

“I guess I owe you pancakes,” Arizona relented. “Don’t worry, I’m buying.”

Eating pancakes with Arizona shouldn’t have made Callie grin as widely as it did, but she couldn’t help herself. She was moving through the jittery phase and leaning towards excited. “We could meet up at work if you’re pressed for time.”

Arizona knew what can of worms that would open. Health care professionals in Seattle talked more than health care professionals anywhere else in the world from her experience. “I think it would be a good idea if we went somewhere else. It would cut down on the number of people spying by at least half.”

Callie let out a short laugh. “Good point. Where do you want to meet?”

“How about that little café on the corner of 5th avenue you love?”

Callie took a long sip of coffee before answering. “That might be difficult seeing as it burned down last year.”

“Oh.” Arizona frowned. “Wow, that sucks. Your bagel consumption practically kept them in business.”

Callie readjusted her position and pulled the blanket tighter around her shoulders. “Stories swirled about what actually happened - meth lab gone wrong, arson, poorly extinguished cigarette, etcetera. I don’t really know what the verdict was.”

Arizona’s brow rose. “What about a plain old grease fire? The hash browns alone needed a bowl to swim around in.”

“Done in by shredded potatoes. The owner’s face must be so red right now.”

Arizona chuckled and tucked some stray hairs behind her ear. “I’m oh-for-one, so you should probably pick the place.”

Callie contemplated their options. Food was no game in the Torres family. “How about the diner on 12th and Vine? I think it’s called ‘The Morning Cup’ or something like that. Sound okay?”

Arizona released a long hum and pretended to ponder her options. “Depends. Are there bagels?”

“Yes, Arizona. I think bagels are a staple.”

“Then I’m in.” Arizona threw off the covers and climbed from the bed. It felt as though a boulder had been surgically removed from her shoulders for the first time in a week. “I need to grab a quick shower and cab it down there. The rental place screwed me over and they won’t have a car for the next few days, plus I need to fix the rats nest on my head.”

Callie remembered well how much she liked ruffled-looking Arizona first thing in the morning. She kept her mouth shut for both their sakes. “Me too. I’ll drop Sofia off at daycare on my way over.”

“You can bring her if you want,” Arizona suggested. “Really, I don’t mind.”

“She doesn’t do so well with obnoxiously loud places,” Callie said. “Besides, she’s barely seven months old and she’s already made friends she likes more than me. She’ll be fine.”

Arizona didn’t let herself worry whether Callie was keeping Sofia at a distance or not, that was her decision. She moved into the bathroom to get a quick look at herself in the mirror and tried not to cringe. It would be nice to look presentable for today of all days. Her entire reflection would need to be rectified before she showed her face in public.

“Meet you there in an hour?” She dumped out her toiletries bag and started digging around for the essentials.

Try as she might, Callie couldn’t stop herself from beaming. “Yeah, that sounds great. I’ll see you then.” She clicked off the call and slumped into the cushions.

Well, that conversation hadn’t gone too- 

“Who was calling this early?”

Erica’s voice just about did Callie in; at the bare minimum, it shaved seven or eight minutes from her life. She whipped around and tried not to look too guilty, because technically she had no reason to be.

“What? No one! Why?” she demanded, trying to quell the rising panic in her gut. Erica’s face was always neutral in the morning and it was making it impossible to tell how long she had been listening.

Erica didn’t seem fazed; she shot Callie a weird look and went for the coffee machine. “It’s just a question, Torres. Not an inquisition.”

Callie cursed her complete and utter inability to act cool in times of need. “No one,” she repeated, only she realized that sounded even more suspicious than giving an answer in the first place. “Er, work. Someone from work. About...stuff.”

“Ah, stuff. Of course.” Erica replaced the coffee pot and faced Callie again. Her stare continued to be passive yet unnerving.

Callie felt herself start to sweat, which guaranteed that Erica was soon to see right through her. “So,” she began in the hopes of keeping that from happening. It was easier to draw things out while she tried to find the most political way to bring up her morning agenda. “What are your plans for today? Cool surgeries, annoying patients, paperwork we can use to start a bonfire?”

Erica’s gaze had dropped to the mess of papers left on the counter while she sipped her coffee. “The usual. Get walked all over by Richard and the Board, try to pretend I’m not furious that they brought in some inexperienced, stu-”

The insult rolled to a stop at the ball of her tongue. Erica was barely able to squash down a flurry of insults she had been about to unleash on Robbins, registering the expression on Callie’s face and suddenly remembering her audience.

“Some...random doctor to mess with my patients,” she finished instead. Robbins was hardly ‘random’, but deep in her gut Erica knew it would play against her if she bashed her colleague at every turn, especially in front of Callie. Right now she couldn’t afford for anything else to be ripped away from her.

Callie stared into her dwindling beverage like it could offer some sort of answer to her dilemma. “Listen, Erica, about the whole Arizona thing-”

The mere mention of the pediatric surgeon’s name caused Erica to bristle. “I don’t want to talk about her,” she said flippantly. “I’m sure she thinks that I’m ready to walk off the case and leave her to it, but I’ll be damned if I don’t keep an eye out for my patient. Richard wants her here, fine, but if push comes to shove, I will be in that OR every single time Robbins picks up a scalpel. Mark my words.”

Whatever confidence Callie had been stockpiling was already beginning to crumble. “Okay, I need a shower,” she said in a rush, suddenly abandoning the plan all together and struggling to untangle herself from the couch. At no point had she actively planned on hiding this thing from Erica but telling her now seemed like a horrible idea. The best she could hope for was that it was just a professional disagreement and both sides would suck it up for the sake of world peace, but right now Callie didn’t think it was a good time to test that theory. She just wanted a simple breakfast with no strings attached or jealous barbs getting hammered into her skull.

Erica remained stationary while her girlfriend made a dash for the bedroom. Ultimately she decided that Callie was just in one of her strange moods and running on fumes, since this whole incident had to be equally as weird for her. Erica had too much on her own plate to worry what other people were doing with their time, so she went about getting ready for the day ahead and wiped Callie’s oddball behavior from her mind.

***

By some miracle Arizona managed to shower, dress, preen in the mirror, and still get to the cafe first. It was a perk of being a morning person - even on short notice, she could usually be on time. Three years ago, Callie struggled with everyday tasks if her brain was still in slumber mode. Arizona used to think the grumpy panda bear act was cute and she couldn’t help but wonder if that’s the version of Callie she would be greeted with this morning. Then again, newborns weren’t famous for sleeping in.

The venue was teeming with people so she secured them a table by the window, somewhere they could talk without being overhead, while not secluding themselves suspiciously in a corner. There was enough space between the second chair and the window for a baby carrier if Callie chose to bring her daughter along. The location was perfect for a semi-awkward reunion of sorts. Now all she could do was wait.

Nerves got the better of her and in less than ten minutes she had already inhaled two large cups of coffee. Arizona alternated between watching the door and staring out the window, keeping an eye out while trying not to look conspicuous. The lack of food straight lined every last drop of caffeine into her bloodstream so that by the time Callie arrived, her leg was jack hammering away under the table.

Arizona spotted her first and jumped up, waving, then unceremoniously banged her hip on the table and stumbled out of her chair. Callie saw her, grinned, and dodged through the crowded interior of the cafe.

In no time at all, they were standing two feet apart, staring at one another. The butterflies in Arizona’s gut went haywire.

“Hi,” Callie stated after a brief pause. After her Houdini act the other day, she figured she owed Arizona the first word. It wasn’t the most original choice phrasing but it was better than catatonic silence.

“Hey,” Arizona echoed, working to keep her voice upbeat but normal. Her confidence plateaued there; she was hovering in some strange place between wanting to hug Callie and being completely unsure if they were friendly enough to do that. Callie seemed to be having the same difficulties as she stutter-stepped forward at the same time as Arizona before jerking to an awkward halt.

Arizona forced out an awkward laugh and felt her cheeks blush. She met Callie’s eyes and subtly lifted a brow in question.

It was Callie who cracked the first smile at the sheer absurdity of it all. Screw it, she thought, and tugged Arizona into a friendly embrace. “It’s good to see you,” she spoke into her ear, raising her voice to be heard over the noise of the diner.

Arizona finally relaxed and allowed herself to return the hug with enthusiasm. “It’s good to see you too,” she murmured, rubbing a hand across her back. Callie’s arms gave Arizona an extra little squeeze before they separated again.

Now that the re-introduction was over with, Arizona slid into her seat and gestured for Callie to do the same. “Sorry about the early phone call. I didn’t wake Sofia up, did I?”

Callie shrugged off her coat and sat across from her. The familiar scent of Arizona’s shampoo still lingered in her nose, some sort of shea butter and coconut mix. It was oddly comforting. “Sofia sleeps better than I do most nights. I dropped her off at daycare and thirty seconds later she was right back in nap mode.”

“She is definitely your kid,” Arizona chuckled. “I always marveled at your ability to sleep in the most uncomfortable on-call rooms.”

A server arrived to take their order. “Can I get you something to drink?” he asked Callie.

She perused the front page of the menu. “I’ll have coffee and orange juice to start.”

He scribbled down a quick note and shifted his attention to Arizona. “A third cup for you, miss?”

Callie’s eyebrow shot up. ‘Three?’ she mouthed in the blonde’s direction.

Arizona nodded sheepishly and nudged her mug over. “Yes, please.” She waited until he poured the coffee before dumping three sugars and one cream into the mix.

Not for the first time, Callie mused over Arizona’s coffee habit and how she was still the only person that rivaled her own addiction. They would be completely different people if the coffee bean industry broke down and cut off their daily supply. In that nightmare scenario, nobody was safe.

She cracked open the menu and skimmed it, more as a formality than to actually make a decision. “I’ll have the three cheese omelet with extra crispy bacon, stuffed hash browns and brown toast. Extra cheese in the omelet.” 

“No pancakes?” Arizona asked.

“Another time. This feels more like an eggs and bacon day,” Callie said.

Arizona had to agree and she ordered the same, then waited until the server left before speaking again. “Three years go by and you’re still eating the same Saturday morning breakfast. I like it.” There were days when she used to make an omelet and bacon for Callie when they shared a day off. Arizona was always the first one awake, so by the time breakfast was served and the coffee was fresh, Callie was just crawling out of bed. It had been a pleasant, symbiotic part of their relationship - Callie got fed and Arizona got to spoil her. She missed the simplicity of those days.

“I had to choose a manageable breakfast back then,” Callie said airily. “Your culinary skills were limited and I _really_ didn’t want my kitchen to burn down.”

Arizona’s mouth fell open. “Hey!”

She looked so affronted that Callie let out a bark of laughter. “Oh please, don’t give me that look. You know if your cooking was _that_ terrible I would have said something. I loved it, I’m just bugging you.”

“Not feeling any better here,” Arizona pouted. Even so, Callie wasn’t too far off - it was no secret that she wasn’t exactly Martha Stewart in the kitchen. Still, Arizona liked to think that she could make some mean breakfast food when the situation depended on it. Eggs were pretty hard to screw up.

The mood at their table was much lighter than it had started off, but now that the initial pleasantries were over, Arizona’s mind drew a blank. There were so many things to talk about, she just couldn’t decide where to begin. Suddenly she couldn’t remember what she normally did with her hands, so she just kind of folded them in her lap and let her leg start bouncing again.

Callie calmly sipped her coffee and held Arizona’s gaze. She was firm in her decision to let Arizona get in the first word. After the Sofia-bomb the night before, the ball was in her court.

The staring contest went on for almost half a minute. Arizona watched her ex-girlfriend’s mouth twitch up in that little half smirk she was famous for. There was no way she was getting out of this one easily, so, drawing up the courage to speak, she leaned forward and began. “Let me just get this apology out of the way - I am _so_ sorry for the way I reacted last night. I got kind of worked up thinking you were avoiding me and I made a rash decision to corner you before I could think it through.”

“You did kind of jump out of no where,” Callie agreed, smiling all the same. “It’s okay, though. It kept me on my toes for the rest of the night. Nobody else managed to sneak up on me.”

Colour flushed Arizona’s cheeks. “Coming back here was...big, and I didn’t have a lot of time to process it before jumping on the plane. And I definitely had no idea you were a mom, so I wigged out a little and made a fool of myself. It wasn’t my finest moment.”

Callie swirled the straw around her orange juice. “You didn’t call. I would’ve told you if you’d called.”

“I know, but it had been a long time. I didn’t know if I _could_ call.”

Callie could understand that; it wasn’t as if she had picked up the phone in the last three years, either. Granted, she’d thought Arizona was still off somewhere in Africa saving orphans, and she didn’t even know if Malawi had an area code. “It’s okay, Arizona, really. I get it.”

Arizona ducked her eyes, using an excuse to add more sugar to her coffee. “Sofia’s gorgeous, Calliope. Congratulations, I mean that.”

As with every time she thought of her daughter, Callie’s features lit up. “She is pretty spectacular, isn’t she?”

“A chip off the old block,” Arizona teased. Callie did that eyebrow thing again and suddenly Arizona found herself backtracking. “Not that you’re old o-or look like a block or anything. I mean that she’s beautiful, like you were beautiful. _Are_ beautiful.”

Oh, hell.

Arizona turned beet red and covered her face with both hands. “Just shoot me, please. I’m drowning here.” Callie’s snickering came through loud and clear from across the table . “It’s not funny,” she mumbled, sliding her hands away. “Everything is just so weird right now.”

Callie was thoroughly enjoying the classic Arizona montage. For some reason, Arizona could be articulate and firm with the rest of mankind, but when it came to the two of them, she tripped over her own tongue much easier. “Mortified is a good look for you,” she pointed out. “If you’re here for a while, remind me to make you blush more often.”

Arizona just shook her head. “It comes naturally when your special talent is sticking your foot in your mouth. I think I forgot how to be social.”

“Trust me, that’s a feeling I know well,” Callie lamented. “I blame the twenty-one hours a day of baby talk. And it’s not like I didn’t make an ass of myself by running away on you three times yesterday, so I think we’re even as far as apologies go. Let’s just...start talking and see where it takes us.”

That sounded like the smartest idea either of them had come up with in days. Arizona wanted desperately to get back to a subject she wouldn’t embarrass herself over, so she jumped at the chance. “Do you have any pictures of Sofia?” she asked. It was a genuine request; she wanted to know more about Callie’s daughter and their life these days.

Callie produced her iPhone and handed it over, allowing Arizona to scroll through an endless number of baby pictures. “There are about four-hundred on there. Don’t feel obligated to go through every single one, I’m just one of those moms that takes a picture every time she sneezes. They need a Baby AA or something.”

Arizona didn’t mind in the least; if ever there was a kid she wanted to know more about, it would be Callie’s. There were even a few shots of her holding a newborn Sofia in her arms moments after labor. Callie griped about how half-dead and gross she looked, but Arizona thought she was stunning. There was a light in Callie’s eyes as she gazed down at the bundle wrapped in her arms. It suited her well.

“She’s beautiful,” Arizona repeated, flipping to the next picture sequence. A photo of Callie, Sofia and Erica together popped up.

Callie felt a stab of guilt for shoving that one in Arizona’s face, even if it was inadvertent. “That was at the pier a couple of weeks after she was born. It was...windy. Hence the hair.”

Arizona glanced across the table. “You guys look happy.”

“Yeah, it was a good day,” Callie said casually, choosing not to offer a definitive answer. “Sofia’s everything I hoped for and more. I have zero regrets. My uterus makes awesome babies.”

Arizona chewed on her bottom lip and contemplated the questions floating around in her head. “Erica isn’t exactly who I would peg for the maternal type,” she said carefully, handing the phone back. “I don’t mean that as a slant, it’s just surprising, that’s all. My impression was that she didn’t even like kids. For patients, I mean. It’s not like we ever talked about her personal life before I left.”

Callie took a long moment to figure out how she wanted to explain things. Technically, it was none of anyone’s business, but she found herself wanting to be clear for Arizona’s sake. Their arrangement wasn’t exactly orthodox and avoiding confusion would be for the better.

“She’s not. A kid person, I mean. She likes Sofia, she helps out, but I don’t think motherhood was ever something she contemplated before.”

Arizona tilted her head, confused.

It was Callie’s turn to start jiggling her leg under the table. “Erica and I have only been together for a little over a year. We started seeing each other when I was five months pregnant with Sofia.”

The revelation caused Arizona’s brow to shoot up. “Oh?”

Callie shrugged and picked at a napkin on the table. “She was just a friend for a really long time. A good friend who was helping me through this huge, life-changing decision I was making. Then one thing led to another, and now here we are. I’m a mom and Erica’s my…well, we’re together and we’re seeing where things take us, if this is something we both want for the long term.”

Arizona tried to make sense of what Callie was getting at without toeing any boundaries. Curiosity and masochism prodded her into asking anyway. “So she’s not - I mean, Sofia’s not her…?”

Callie could count on four hands the number of times she’d had to explain this to the people in her life. Usually it pissed her off, but with Arizona, the intent was harmless. It was a valid question.

“It’s complicated,” she allowed after a lengthy pause. There was no part of her not crawling with fire ants right now; explaining the inner working of her relationship with Erica _to_ Arizona seemed backwards, warped. But ‘complicated’ was too vague for her taste, so she thought back to how things had gone down and tried to describe it without going into too much detail for Arizona’s sake.

***

_**12 months ago:** _

_“Erica, we can’t do this,” Callie argued, yet the stumble-step towards the bedroom continued. Lips ghosted along her neck and she tangled a fist into blonde curls, guiding Erica’s mouth to crash against her own. Her mind and her body were on completely different wavelengths right now; one resistant, one desperate, both confused. Neither of them were making any sense._

_“Why not?” Erica forced herself to pull away for clarity’s sake, waiting for an answer while her fingers continued their slow crawl up Callie’s side._

_There was an ache in the pit of Callie’s stomach that came after years of intense, debilitating loneliness, and it intensified with such a tender touch. Changing the status quo had the potential to be disastrous, yet she couldn’t take her hands off of the woman in her bedroom. This very moment lodged her somewhere between a rock and a horny place - the latter possibly due to pregnancy hormones. It had been a long, cold year, and the only person she could count on during that time was suddenly kissing her neck again._

_“You know why,” Callie finally relented. She took the step to untangle herself from Erica again and moved back a few paces, putting some safety distance between them. “It’s not like things aren’t incredibly complicated here.”_

_“Complicated, yes. Impossible, no.” Erica stepped into the space and reached out to comb her fingers through Callie’s hair. “We’ve been doing this dance for how long? I’ve missed you, I have feelings for you. I don’t want to pretend that you mean just as much to me as Bailey or Hunt. You know it’s more than that.”_

_Little bits of Callie’s resolve were being chipped away, one sentence at a time. The ache in her gut intensified and Callie groaned before sagging onto the edge of the bed, waiting for Erica to join her side by side._

_“I’m pregnant,” she stated again, just to be clear. “Like, really pregnant. You know this, you’ve been the one holding my hand through all the freak-outs and what-ifs and reminding me not to go nuclear on the interns when they open their stupid mouths and idiotic questions come flying out.” She shot Erica a nervous glance. “Plus, you’re a doctor, so I’m assuming you know that the end game here is a baby coming out of my vagina. That’s sort of a permanent thing these days.”_

_Erica cracked a smile at Callie’s ability to describe things in ways that only she could. Her fingers slipped through the hand resting next to hers. “I know. I’ve enjoyed it so far, I have to say. You get more neurotic with every panic attack.”_

_Callie returned the gesture weakly and flexed her grip. “I don’t know what we’re doing. What are we doing?” Silence pinballed around the room, all the while with Erica watching her._

_“I’m not kidding myself here,” Erica said after a moment. “I still don’t know that I’ll ever be ready for some kid to start calling me ‘mom’. But I do know that I love you, and that being a part of that equation in some way might not be all that bad. Maybe there’s a way to make this work, if it’s something you want.”_

_“Let me guess, a complicated way?” Callie mused._

_“Probably.” Erica raised their clasped hands to her lips and pressed a firm kiss to her paramour’s skin. “This child will be the most important part of your life from now until forever, I’m not blind. You are an incredibly brave woman to make this journey alone and I know you’ll be amazing at it. But maybe you don’t have to be_ completely _alone.”_

_Callie’s uncertainty never went away but her resistance had already started packing its bags. They had been through so much in the past year, it had to count for something. Maybe she owed them this, to at least try and figure it out. Becoming a mother didn’t mean she had an obligation to be alone. She cared about Erica._

_“So, we see where it goes?” she asked skeptically. “I just...have a baby, and we date and act like everything’s normal?”_

_Erica started to smile. Maybe they were a little crazy, but she was starting to like that about them. “Well, I’d like to think we’re more than just ‘dating’, but yes, essentially. We wait and we see where it goes.” She ducked her face to catch Callie’s wandering eye. “Okay?”_

_There was only one way to find out. “Okay,” Callie echoed, and the rest of the night was theirs.  
_

****

A blanket of silence muffled the other patrons of the diner, drowning out everything around Callie and Arizona. Arizona ended up focused on a speck of dried jam that was smudged close to Callie’s hand; she wondered how long it had been there and how often this place cleaned its tables. Maybe she should have paid more attention before choosing their seats.

Callie studied the far-off look in the other woman’s eyes. She tilted her head down and tried to figure out how deeply Arizona was buried in her thoughts. “You okay in there?”

All it took was Callie’s voice to bring Arizona rushing back to the present. She blinked hard and shook the fog away before it could envelop her again. “Yeah, sorry. Too much coffee, I think it’s short-circuiting my motor functions.” She flashed Callie a quick smile and raised the lukewarm mug to her lips. “It sounds nice, everything with Erica. Like things worked out for the better.”

Callie didn’t really know how that sat with her. “You seem surprised. Beyond the baby thing, I mean.”

Arizona held the coffee mug up again in an attempt to buy herself more time to calm down. It felt pushy to keep talking about Erica, but now Callie was the one pushing the questions. “I thought you two were already together when I left Seattle,” she admitted only when Callie wouldn’t stop staring at her.

“Really? No, not at all,” Callie replied, confused as to where Arizona got that from. “We were only friends for more than a year after you left. She was there for me through a whole lot of stuff, we were close, but nothing happened for a long time.”

Of course, that was leaving out the part where a drunken come-on six weeks after Arizona left had Erica spell it out to Callie plain and simple - she would be nobody’s rebound. That one embarrassment had rendered Callie ashamed and too afraid to ever broach the subject again - until Erica decided to make a move more than twelve months later.

“She’s good with Sofia,” Callie added for clarification. The last thing she wanted to do was undermine the roll Erica did have in her daughter’s life. “Her baby talk needs some serious work, though. That part I mostly take care of.”

“Aw. You’re a big softie,” Arizona teased, poking Callie with her foot. She wanted to shake the growing discomfort in her belly and the best way to do that was to keep the ball rolling. A nearby server caught her eye around that time and appeared with more coffee in hand, which helped matters.

“Are you sure you should be drinking that?” Callie asked skeptically as she watched Arizona’s fourth mug fill to the rim. “I don’t remember you ever being this saturated with the stuff.”

“My sleep schedule is a mess,” Arizona admitted, wasting little time before drinking half of it in one go. She scalded her tongue but didn’t let that stop her. “Between the three hour time difference and the stress of running a major medical trial with a mile of red tape around it, I haven’t slept much in two nights.”

“That’s healthy,” Callie snorted.

“Gotta keep the blood flowing. This does the trick.” Arizona tipped her mug in a mock salute.

Callie abandoned her plans to scold Arizona when their food finally arrived, and not a second too soon. They needed a detour from talking about her off-kilter love life because no matter how much time had passed, Callie didn’t feel like she would ever be ready to talk about it with Arizona. It was too strange.

Her stomach was busy imitating a large, angry feline by now and the whole restaurant probably knew how hungry she was. An omelet made by somebody that wasn’t her and didn't require doing dishes afterward smelled just as good as it looked, so she picked up her utensils and dove in.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the table, Arizona was still removing her knife and fork from their wrappings. She meticulously folded her napkin down over her right thigh and scooted forward in her seat, proceeding to breathe in the delicious scent of the meal and savour it before so much as a crumb landed in her mouth. She took a normal sized bite and glanced across the table to witness Callie shoveling in her food.

“Wow,” she commented, a teasing smirk forming when Callie looked up, eyes wide and a mouth full of eggs. “Don’t swallow the fork, Torres. CPR is always so awkward when it comes to exes.”

Callie froze, taking care to swallow before jumping to her own defense. “I’d be more worried about the eggs solidifying halfway down your windpipe. Something’s bound to expire before you finish.”

Arizona lifted another dainty forkful and made a show of eating it slowly. “Just remember what I said when Dr. Hunt is trying to dislodge a spoon from your windpipe.”

Callie narrowed her eyes, unamused. “Just eat your food, smartass. Your eggs are gonna get cold.” She shook her fork in Arizona’s direction, causing a piece of egg to fly off and land on the table. 

Arizona grinned and reached for the bacon that was supposed to be on her plate, only to spot an offending pile of breakfast sausage in its place. She hated sausage, a long-running joke that Callie probably had yet to let go of.

Around the same time, Callie poked at her toast when she realized they had smothered a significant amount of blueberry jam on it. She despised blueberry jam, it lacked the actual taste of blueberries and the texture was always off. Without looking up, she extended the toast to Arizona’s plate and at the same time received two breakfast sausages on her own. They had done it probably a thousand times before and neither of them blinked during the normality of the exchange.

Arizona hid a smile when she realized what they had done after, then grabbed the toast for a healthy bite. “So, what have you been up to for the last two years and nine months? Besides having the world’s most adorable baby and continuing to lead the field of orthopedic surgery into the future.”

Callie bit the inside of her cheek to keep from grinning like an idiot. Somehow, whenever Arizona brought up Sofia, she couldn’t stop the giddiness from flowing. Those stupid maternal hormones were still working her over, even seven months after birth. “Not much, really. Sofia’s taken up most of my time, so between her and work, I stay pretty busy. I don’t get too many nights to go out drinking and dancing on bar tops anymore. Guess I’m a grown-up now.”

“Now it’s wine in your pajama bottoms and falling asleep at nine o’clock,” Arizona teased. “Welcome to the old timers’ club.” She raised her juice glass in salute. “Is it everything you’d hoped it would be?”

Callie released a sigh. “When I look at her, half of the time I still can’t believe she’s mine,” she said quietly. “It’s like I actually made something that didn’t fall apart or get shoved into the back of a closet when company comes to stay.”

“I should hope not,” Arizona laughed. “From my experience in peds, teenagers that grow up in broom closets tend to feel resentment when they get older. Some of them even become wizards and demand they go to boarding school.”

Callie started laughing. “You are still such a dork.”

“Hey, my Harry Potter themed Halloween in 2009 was epic. Just ask my patients, they loved it.”

“Mm-hm,” Callie smirked, shaking her head. “Like I said, dork.”

There was little to take offense from, Arizona saw the twinkle in Callie’s eyes that said she was kidding. Besides, dorks were in these days. Callie used to love her nerdy moments.

As much as she loved talking to death about her daughter, Callie wanted to transition into Arizona and her work at some point, and this seemed like the opportunity. It would be easy to take over the whole conversation with stories about how cute Sofia was when she giggled or the time she’d almost lost her behind the couch when she was learning to crawl. Something told her that Arizona wouldn’t mind, it was just the kind of person she was, but this was about more than Sofia. Before she could ask, however, Arizona beat her to it.

“I heard through the grapevine that your cartilage research is finally getting a trial,” Arizona started. “A surgeon I met at the clinic on rotation worked with Cheng a few years ago. He said it was a really big deal in the ortho community, so I guess that means a second congratulations is in order. You’re kicking my ass here on the list of accomplishments.”

Callie’s lips tweaked up slightly. Her research was her other baby, be it less cute and a little more high maintenance. “We’re still in the early, _early_ stages of development and it’s still pending approval on a lot of fronts. We’re not completely green-lit yet, but my fingers are crossed. It’s going well.”

“I can’t wait to read about it once you publish,” Arizona agreed. “It’s pretty cool. And to think, I was there when it first happened. I’m a part of history.” She took another bite of eggs and proudly lifted her head to meet Callie’s eyes.

Callie found that she couldn’t hold Arizona’s gaze for very long before every last nerve in her upper body started to get twitchy. She resorted to scarfing down the last of her breakfast and focused on the swirls of yolk in her plate. It was enough of a cover that she regained her centre of gravity and was able to look up again.

“What about you?” she asked, dumping a packet of sugar into her coffee, as though that would help solve her jitters. “I mean, you were in Africa saving babies and building a surgical program. How was it?”

Arizona finished off the remnants of her coffee and resisted the urge to order more. Enlarging the hole in her stomach this early in her trip was probably a bad idea. “It was pretty amazing. Different, of course. _So_ different. The Carter-Madison foundation has really made a huge difference in the community.” She dabbed at her mouth with a napkin and pushed her empty plate away. “They talked about pouring more money in to expand to a second location, just across the border in Zambia. There’s another area with no medical care nearby and the government is willing to co-operate under the right circumstances.”

“Sounds like the program is a huge success,” Callie said. “That’s amazing.”

“It’s been really great, I feel really good about it,” Arizona agreed. There were few things in her life that she was extremely proud of but this clinic and its results were definitely at the top.

“So are you back for good?” Callie hedged. There wasn’t really a sneaky way for her to slip this into the conversation as far as she could tell. “Or are you taking a break for the trial, or…?”

Arizona shrugged and worked out the best explanation she could think of. “I’ve got a really great team of surgeons rotating through on a monthly basis. I fly out once every two or three months myself to keep an eye on things and help out. Between the clinic and Hopkins, I haven’t had much of a life since Christmas. It’s a lot of back and forth between continents. I’m not too sure how things will go beyond the new year.”

The Christmas reference gave Callie pause. She did the math in her head and ended up scrunching her brow in confusion. “You’ve been at Hopkins for nine months already? Did you come back from Malawi early or do I just really suck at numbers?”

The question tripped Arizona up and for a moment she didn’t know what to say. There were a host of complicated, painful answers to that and she didn’t want to put a damper on the visit, not when things were starting to go smoothly.

“Arizona?” Callie lowered her fork when she saw the sudden change in her ex-girlfriend’s demeanor. Her whole expression had darkened.

Arizona had to work through how she wanted to answer. In the end she decided that the simplest explanation was probably the easiest, even if it was just as hard to say out loud now as it had been nine months ago.

“I was there for two years,” she started to explain. “I planned on staying for the third because things were going so well, but…” She trailed off again and dropped her eyes. “My dad died in December, so I flew back for the funeral and to help out with the arrangements and stuff. With my mom all alone, I ended up staying. It was better for both of us.”

Callie suddenly felt like she was going to be sick, which wouldn’t have been a pretty picture since she had just consumed a massive amount of food. “Oh, god, I’m _so_ sorry, Arizona,” she whispered, her whole heart going out to her.

As with every time she thought about her father and how much she missed him, Arizona felt a stab of pain in the centre of her chest. “My mom was having a really hard time coping with how sudden it all was, and then Hopkins offered me a spot when they found out I was looking, so she moved to Baltimore with me. She has her own place but she’s close by. We keep an eye on each other.”

Callie only hesitated for the briefest of seconds before reaching across the table to cover Arizona’s hand. “I had no idea or I would’ve called,” she said softly. “I’m so sorry for your loss.”

Arizona forced a smile through the prickling behind her eyes. It was still extremely raw when she thought about how much she missed her dad, but she was able to keep it in check after months of practice. “Thanks, Callie. That means a lot.”

Knowing how close Arizona was with her parents, Callie could only imagine how difficult it must have been for her to go through that, especially when she was half way across the world. God knew she had issues with her own parents - and those weren’t going away anytime soon - but she couldn’t fathom losing one of them so suddenly. It gave her the chills.

She squeezed her hand comfortingly around Arizona’s. “What happened, if you don’t mind me asking? I would totally understand it you don’t want to talk about it, I’m just so shocked. I mean he’s The Colonel with a capital ‘T’.”

“He was The Colonel,” Arizona agreed, allowing herself to smile. There was no better way to sum him up than that. Losing him was still fresh; she missed him on a daily basis and regretted being away in Africa for so long, but she couldn’t change that now. They had constantly talked about her parents coming for a visit before the three year period was up, it just didn’t happen in time. A huge part of her still wished her father had been able to see the clinic and everything she had done with the program.

“He had a heart attack,” she replied after a long breath. “It was quick from what they told me. Thank god my mother didn’t find him, he was out with some friends.” Arizona couldn’t handle the thought of what that would have been like for her or her mom. “She’s doing better these days, she just misses him like crazy. They’d been together since they were in their early twenties. I can’t even imagine how she feels right now. I don’t think I ever want to.”

Callie offered her a sympathetic smile. “I’m glad you two have each other out east. It makes me feel better knowing that you’re not alone.”

The whole thing was still vivid in Arizona’s mind, receiving the phone call out of the blue, struggling for four days to get back home. During that time, her poor mom had been by herself to deal with the initial fallout. It still bothered Arizona on a certain level that she hadn’t been around when it happened. Those four days were awful for both of them.

“I hadn’t seen him for almost a year,” she said, her voice dropping significantly in volume. “I was planning to fly home and visit last Christmas. Probably should have made it Thanksgiving, knowing how it...”

Callie hummed and turned Arizona’s fingers over in her own. Her thumb traced a soothing pattern along her palm and she watched Arizona’s expression fall again. “I don’t even know what to say,” she admitted. “I know how incredibly lame that is, but I just...I’m so sorry. I wish I could’ve been there for you. I wish I could say something to make it hurt less. If there ever _is_ anything you need, here or in Maryland, I promise I’m here now.”

“Thank you,” Arizona repeated, offering her a tiny smile. Her fingers looped through Callie’s and this time she gave them a reassuring squeeze. “Robbins women are survivors. We’re hanging in there.”

There was no doubt in Callie’s mind that those two could make it through anything. Barbara Robbins was the sweetest woman you would ever meet and yet she kept her husband in line for over forty years, which spoke volumes of her tenacity. She had raised her daughter to be the same way.

Callie wanted to tell Arizona how proud her father would have been of her accomplishments, that anyone who had ever seen them together knew how much that man loved his little girl. The words formed in her mind but failed to make it out of her mouth - Arizona had probably heard it all from people more important than her. There was no need to cut open a wound that had already begun to heal.

With one last squeeze, Callie released Arizona’s hand and leaned back in her seat. “So, I think we’ve gotten to you at Hopkins. How is it being back at your old stomping grounds?”

Grateful for the subject change, Arizona forced herself to brighten up again. “It’s great, actually. Norman McHale is the Chief of Surgery, so he’s put me in charge of the pediatrics unit. I know that’s what I did here in Seattle, but it kind of feels like going back to high school and becoming principal or something. It’s really fun.”

Callie’s smile widened and Arizona blushed hard. She knew that look. “Don’t worry, Alex calls me a nerd at least once a week. I’m aware that I’m a freak of nature.”

“Just as long as we’re clear,” Callie started to laugh. “I’m glad that you’re happy.”

“It’s great department all around,” Arizona said. “I have a ton of funding since they’re ranked number one in the country, so this loop of the stem cell trial is only the beginning of what we can do.”

“Do you like it better than here?”

“The food doesn’t suck as much and the students are more interested in surgery than sleeping with each other,” Arizona commented. “Plus, I get to boss Karev around again. It’s kind of a nice change of scenery.”

“Don’t mention any of that to the Chief,” Callie pointed out. “He’s still bitter about getting stuck behind Hopkins on the list year after year. And I think he’s plotting revenge for you stealing his most promising peds fellow.”

Arizona beamed and picked up her water glass. “I’ll just have to get him a nice Christmas present.” 

They exchanged more work stories over the course of the morning breakfast rush. Other tables turned over once, twice, and still Callie caught Arizona up on the latest from Seattle Grace, throwing in questions about the clinic in Malawi. With the heavy stuff out of the way, it was easier for both of them to relax and have a normal conversation. Talking was starting to feel like old times.

“So, how’s Mark doing?”

Callie immediately looked up, surprised, and Arizona shrugged. “I’m just curious. Has he knocked up any nurses or pharmaceutical reps yet?”

Callie cocked an eyebrow at the bizarre topic. “Mark is the last person I thought you’d ever ask me about.”

“What, I can’t be curious? He was a pain in the ass but I’m assuming he’s still around and in your life.”

Callie snorted. She wouldn’t admit it to her best friend but she kind of missed Arizona’s subtle digs at him. “Actually, he’s grown up in the past couple of years. He’s got a steady girlfriend and she’s his age. You would be impressed.”

It was Arizona’s turn to be surprised. “Really? No more Little Grey?”

Callie shook her head. “No, I think that ship has sailed. The new one’s pretty cool. They watch Sofia for me a lot, so that’s handy.”

“Mark’s dating a grownup, I never would’ve guessed,” Arizona hummed. “Do me a favour and don’t tell Teddy if you talk to her again. We had this long-running bet on how many Little Sloans were out there running around. I don’t want to lose fifty bucks.”

A new server appeared at their table and asked if they wanted anything else. Only when Arizona checked her watch did she realize that they’d been talking for well over two hours. She started to ask for more coffee when Callie’s hand blocked the mouth of her mug.

“I think you’ve had enough for this morning,” Callie pointed out, arching a brow. “You’re gonna vibrate a hole in the floor. Pace yourself.”

She did have a point. Arizona politely declined any more caffeine and they were left to themselves again. “This place is good, it’s just too bad that MJ’s burned down. Remember when we went there for your birthday breakfast and the owner made you put on that ridiculous party hat?”

Callie snorted into her coffee. “That was humiliating.”

“You looked adorable,” Arizona teased. “Very classy, all those sequins and sparkles.”

“I only did it because you were bribing me with certain other birthday activities at the end of the day,” Callie pointed out. “Which was cruel, by the way.”

“Hey, I followed through on those promises, didn’t I?” Arizona meticulously raised an eyebrow and fixed her ex with a knowing smile.

Callie’s cheeks flushed. Her 31st birthday had been pretty great, celebrated with friends and her girlfriend, full of presents and laughter. What stuck most in her mind was the later part of the evening - tangled together in a mess of sweaty bed sheets and limbs, feel Arizona’s porcelain skin gliding effortlessly along her own, the sting of blunt nails biting into her lower back. For the first time in history, Arizona had actually called in sick to work the next day. They’d spent most of it in bed together, sleeping and making love. It was her most memorable birthday to date.

She tried to play it off and keep her mind focused on something more appropriate. “What I remember is you laughing at me in that stupid hat all throughout dinner. Didn’t you shoot iced tea out of your nose?”

The phantom sensation made Arizona cringed. There had been some sort of vodka slipped into that ‘iced tea’, as she recalled. “At least we were regulars so they couldn’t ban us from coming back.”

“Somehow I don’t see any straight male bar owner banning two hot lesbians just for being dorks. We were the highlight of his evening.”

Arizona bit her lip and held back a grin. “What about your last birthday? Did you do anything special?”

Callie refilled their water glasses with a pitcher that had been left on the table. “No, not really - not unless you count doing a 13-hour interpositional arthroplasty ‘special’. I mean _I_ kind of do, but it is still nice to celebrate your birthday outside the hospital once in a while.”

“A rarity,” Arizona agreed. “So no celebrations, nothing?”

“I went home and tried to build Sofia’s crib,” Callie said thoughtfully. “I was like four-thousand pounds and out to the moon, and somehow I ended up building it backwards. Eventually I gave up and drank chocolate milk from a wine glass while watching Casablanca for the eight-hundredth time. It wasn’t bad.”

Arizona wondered where Erica was in all of this, whether she was still being a ‘great friend’ during that time or if they had already transitioned to partners. It was none of her business and thinking too hard about it made her feel ill.

“I was gonna call you,” Arizona confessed, watching Callie’s eyes light up from across the table. “I thought about you when I got back to the States, but then things with my dad’s passing got complicated, and the move and everything, so…” She lifted her water glass in a toast to Callie’s health. “Happy belated happy birthday, Calliope. Thirty-four suits you well. And hey - I might still be here for your thirty-fifth, so I can make it up to you then. How’s that sound?”

For an extremely belated birthday wish and a promise that might not even happen, Callie found that she couldn’t stop grinning. “Cheers,” she agreed, clinking glasses. “That would be great.”

The cafe’s initial onslaught of food-starved morning people had slowed dramatically and the noise dipped to a more bearable hum. Arizona looked around them and took in the familiar sights of Seattle mid-morning, realizing that she felt relaxed for the first time in weeks.

“I’ve really missed this,” she confessed as they sat in a more comfortable sort of quietness. “Don’t get me wrong, I like my co-workers in Baltimore, but none of them are-”

“As amazing as I am?” Callie cut in, smugness hidden behind her glass. “Why thank you.”

“They do have better taste in music.”

Callie scoffed. “There is nothing wrong with my music! Kickass orthopedic surgeons listen to loud, obnoxious noises. _You_ on the other hand, with your Taylor Swift and Justin Bieber, how do you sleep at night?”

“Hey!” Arizona shot back. “I do _not_ willingly listen to that stuff, you know that.”

“Sure,” Callie drawled, sounding completely unconvinced. Arizona’s insistence on pre-teen music in the OR with her younger patients made Callie’s ears bleed.

“It’s for the tiny humans,” Arizona said hotly. “You try telling a sick child he or she can’t go into life-endangering surgery listening to their hero sing them their favourite song. They give you these huge, sad eyeballs and their lips quiver and everything. You couldn’t say no either.”

Callie’s lips tilted up in a smirk. There was more than one surgery during which she had nearly taken a bone saw to the entire OR staff when Arizona refused to change the tunes. “You just enjoyed torturing me, admit it.”

“Karev, more specifically,” Arizona grinned. “But hey, you never know what the kids can hear once they’re under. Positive atmosphere and all that, the subconscious mind is a mystery.”

Callie made a face. “If we end up in an OR together while you’re here, _I_ get to pick the music. Think of this as pre-emptive shotgun.”

Her phone buzzed from the inside of her jacket and she took a second to fish it out, just in case it was the daycare regarding Sofia. It was the first time she had actually looked at a clock since coming here and she nearly choked on the remainder of her coffee. “Holy crap, we’ve been here for almost three hours.”

Arizona checked her watch again and wondered when the hands had suddenly jumped ahead. “Yikes. Time flies, huh?”

“Especially when you get to have an adult conversation that doesn’t revolve around Dora the Explorer or Barney and Friends,” Callie said emphatically. “We should probably get going. What’s your day like?”

The enormous amount of work blocking out the next several weeks of her schedule had Arizona sighing. “I have a bunch of hoops to jump through at the hospital, things aren’t running too smoothly right out of the gate.” She stole a quick look at Callie before busying herself with her phone. “Erica and Stark aren’t making things easy on me. I don’t anticipate they’ll have a change of heart.”

Callie grimaced. Getting stuck in the middle appealed to her about as much as guest starring in the next _Saw_ movie. “Stark is always an ass,” she offered. “I don’t think you’re gonna win with him.”

“I’m starting to see I’ve got my work cut out for me, but luckily I’m a lovable person with some force and persistence.” Arizona started to gather her things, triggering Callie to do the same. As much as she would love to stay and catch up all afternoon, she really had to get to work. “We should do this again some time. It was fun.”

“It was,” Callie agreed, smiling. She scooted out from her side of the table. “Come on, I’ll drive you. Cab service sucks when its raining.”

Arizona pulled on her jacket. “Are you sure? I don’t want to get in the way of your plans.”

Callie shot her a strange look. “Arizona, we’re going to the exact same place. I’ll drive you.”

Arizona had to admit there was logic in that. “Thanks, Callie,” she agreed. She dug out her wallet to pay for breakfast but Callie beat her to it and threw a wad of cash onto the table.

“You can get the next one,” Callie said pointedly, putting an end to any debate.

Arizona narrowed her eyes and reluctantly put her money away. “Hm, deal.” She shouldered her bag and indicated for Callie to go ahead in a ‘ladies first’ fashion.

Callie felt as though a weight had been removed from her shoulders as they walked out the front door together. It wasn’t lost on her that agreeing to a ‘next time’ meant there would indeed be one at some point. In her mind, that was a much better option than dodging each other in the halls for weeks on end.

***

“I can’t believe you’ve kept this beast running all these years,” Arizona commented as she relaxed into the passenger’s seat of Callie’s Thunderbird. They peeled around a corner and the car shifted gears, generating a hum that Arizona hadn’t even realized she’d missed until now. The T-bird was older than the two of them combined and yet it still ran like it was fresh out of the factory.

“I take care of my baby,” Callie said with a grin. Her palm wrapped around the shift gear and she gave it an affectionate pat.

“You always did love your car more than me,” Arizona grumbled. “I bet there’s a whole lot of broken hearts left behind because of this thing.”

Callie rolled her eyes. “Your horsepower needed some work,” she said sarcastically. “More horse power, more love.” She ran her hand slowly along the top of the dash as they rolled up to a red light. “Henrietta has never steered me wrong.”

Arizona’s brow shot up. “Seriously?”

“Well, unless you count that time she crapped out on my drive down to San Diego, but other than that, she runs as smooth as silk.” Callie leaned back, relaxed and at ease despite the stress of the last couple of days. Henrietta had a way of melting it all away - if any car was therapeutic, it was this one.

Arizona shook her head in disbelief. “Then there was the time ‘Henrietta’ steered you off the side of the road when we were going to Portland for the weekend.”

“I don’t like it when you use air quotes,” Callie chimed in.

Arizona ignored her. “At least I never tried to run you into a lamp post. Robbins one, car zero.”

Callie made a face. “You’re just mad that you suck at driving a stick.”

“And yet that sentiment is _exactly_ how we ended up together in the first place, my special lady friend.”

The second eye roll nearly did Callie in. “I walked right into that one,” she mused as the light turned green again and they started moving again.

She thought back to the Portland incident about six months before their break-up. “If memory serves, you were the reason I took that corner too sharply in the first place. If your hand hadn’t been in a certain… _place_ , none of that would have happened.”

Arizona tried to squash the cheesy grin that formed and chewed on her thumbnail instead. “I didn’t hear you complaining.”

“Never said I was,” Callie smirked. “Just that it was your fault, not the car’s. Henrietta one, Robbins nothing.”

For the second time that morning, she was starting to think this was a dangerous path to go down. She loved that the two of them were back on speaking terms and that talking to Arizona was just as easy as it had always been, but memories of past liaisons felt disrespectful to her current relationship. That was a long time ago and she had other people in her life that wouldn’t appreciate them.

Clearing her throat, she stole a quick glance at Arizona. “So, did I tell you Cristina’s actually taken to Sofia? She’ll play with her and everything.”

They turned into the parking lot and Arizona dug for her phone again, checking to see if she had any incoming messages. “Yang? Good with kids?” She frowned without looking up. “I thought she was allergic to them?”

Callie steered the vehicle into an empty parking stall. “Well, she’s Sofia’s Godmother, so she tries her best.”

Phone forgotten, Arizona twisted in her seat to stare at Callie like she had two heads. “You chose Cristina _Yang_ to be your baby’s Godmother?” she said loudly.

Yeah, that was pretty much the reaction Callie had expected. “It’s not as weird as it sounds,” she argued.

“Yang, the same woman that pretended to like children just to suck up to me during the merger. Yang, the doctor who makes kids cry. Yang, the doctor who wouldn’t know how to play peek-a-boo if it jumped out and bit her in the ass.”

“Oh come on,” Callie protested. “You make it sound like she’s incapable of handling a kid sharing the same air space.”

“Calliope, she tried to give a two-year-old a Gobstopper. The kid would’ve choked to death if I hadn’t checked in for rounds.”

Callie rolled her eyes. “That was years ago. Don’t worry, she doesn’t let Sof play with sharp objects and she doesn’t feed her choking hazards.” Cutting the engine, she climbed out of the car and waited for Arizona to do the same before locking up. “Cristina’s changed. And honestly, the more people and influences in Sofia’s life, the better, right?”

Arizona conceded with a half shrug, even though she still thought the choice was an odd one. Then again, Callie and Cristina had always understood each other on a different level. Callie knew what she was doing.

As they approached the staff entrance, Callie felt another flutter of nerves in her chest. “That includes you, y’know, if you want,” she hedged, trying to gauge Arizona’s reaction through her peripheral vision.

Despite the casual way in which it was said, Arizona could read the apprehension in Callie’s body language. She didn’t want to give her any more reasons to stress out about her presence than necessary. “I’d love to get to know her better,” she said after a moment of choosing her words carefully. “She is the world’s cutest kid, after all. I _have_ to see how much she’s like her mom.”

Callie felt some of the tension ease but she was still nervous on the inside. “I’ve made a mess of too many things in my life,” she sighed. “I’m hoping Sofia uses better judgment.”

Arizona shot her a funny look. “Yeah, your footsteps are so messy, what with the incredible career at a young age, inventing cartilage from nothing, and heading up what will probably turn out as one of the most successful orthopedic clinical trials in the next decade. _All_ while raising a healthy, well-rounded and amazing daughter. Oh, and don’t forget that inevitable Harper Avery nomination.” She reached over and punched Callie in the shoulder. “God, it would be a _shame_ if Sofia ended up anything like you.” 

Callie released an exasperated sigh. “Well when you put it _that_ way, I sound like I’m fishing for compliments.”

Winking, Arizona steered Callie through the door. “If she inherits that sarcastic grin of yours, the ladies won’t know what hit ‘em.”

The very idea of her baby girl in dating mode made Callie stop walking all together. “Oh no, I have at least sixteen years before I have to start worrying about girlfriends or boyfriends,” she argued, holding up a finger while adjusting her shoulder bag. Then the thought of all the horny teenaged boys chasing Sofia around behind her back came rushing in and she started to sweat. “Oh god, boyfriends. I’ll be that scary mom she’s too afraid to bring anybody home to and then god knows what will happen behind my back.”

“Give yourself more credit than that,” Arizona chuckled as they started walking again. “You’ll be fine when the time comes for those challenges. And if her boyfriend or girlfriend is a total ass, then just scheme out a way to separate them and she’ll never be the wiser.”

When all she received was a grumbled, noncommittal response, Arizona slowed her pace again and nudged Callie in the side. “You’re an amazing mom and friend, Callie. You’re not gonna screw your daughter up. She’s lucky to have you looking out for her. Believe me, I’ve met some _really_ scary parents that should not be raising children. You are not one of them.”

Callie was starting to look a little more convinced, though the very idea of Sofia dating was freaking her out. Now she would spend the next sixteen years worrying; that couldn’t be good for her health. “At least I’m not a pageant mom, right?” she mused, conceding to Arizona’s pep talk.

Arizona burst out laughing as they continued through the lobby, her sole focus on the woman beside her. “Oh god, I will call child services if I ever come across a parent forcing their kid into that kind of thing.”

“Remember when we used to watch _‘Dance Moms’_ every week?” Callie added enthusiastically. “God, I almost forgot how bad that show was.” Suddenly she couldn’t seem to stop herself from snickering. Their co-piloted commentary had made those TV marathons a blast.

“Oh, you should have _seen_ this one mom in Maryland,” Arizona jumped in again, her whole face lighting up. “Her daughter needed her appendix taken out but she actually tried to postpone the surgery until after they had-”

Two things happened at once: Callie stopped dead in her tracks and Arizona heard someone clearing their throat. She frowned, backtracking a step, and finally looked ahead.

There weren’t many things in life that Callie was ever truly afraid of, but Erica looking like she could frighten off a pack of grizzly bears was definitely one of them.

“So,” Erica started, her voice alarmingly calm. She stared right at Callie, ignoring the other person present, and folded both arms over her chest. “‘Work stuff’, huh?”


	5. Chapter 4

All of the reasons Callie knew she should have been straightforward for from the beginning came flooding back to her in an instant. It was written all over Erica’s face how furious she was; anyone with a set of eyeballs would know that things were about to get bad. Callie was probably supposed to feel guilty and a little preemptive groveling never hurt anyone, but the only thing she could seem to do was stare and contemplate the hole she had dug herself into.

Arizona was unaware of the underlying tension and opted to send Erica a friendly smile for the sake of professionalism. “Dr. Hahn, I hope you haven’t been waiting too long. We got talking and lost track of time.”

Callie realized how volatile the situation was when Erica cut her gaze in Arizona’s direction and her jaw line tightened. Either Arizona had nerves of steel or she wasn’t adept at reading Erica’s silent rage like Callie was.

“Time is tricky that way,” Erica said in a neutral tone, which, to her credit, was a lot less venomous than Callie had been expecting.

Adjusting her purse straps, Callie took a small step forward and grappled to explain. “Erica, we just went for breakfast, it’s not a big deal.”

Arizona furrowed her brow and snuck a quick glance at Callie.

Erica switched her focus and kept it on Callie for the remainder of the conversation. “So this morning when you said you were coming into work early, what you really meant was that you were meeting your ex and felt the need to lie about it,” she stated. “Do I have that right or would you care to elaborate?”

Whether it was the coffee making her jittery or pure terror for what was yet to come, Callie couldn’t answer right away. She prided herself on being a tough woman to intimidate, yet there was something about the sight of Erica that stripped away any sort of bravado. That, and her girlfriend was completely right, much to her chagrin. Callie didn’t have a tree stump to stand on at this point, let alone a leg.

“It’s not like that,” she began, desperately wishing that she could convince herself as much as she was trying to convince everyone else. What made it worse was when she looked to Arizona, who appeared about as impressed with her as Erica.

Erica folded her arms across her chest and emitted a short laugh. “You blatantly lied to me, Callie. Tell me what else it’s supposed to be like?”

“No, it is _not_ a big deal,” Callie shot back, her hackles rising like a bear backed into a corner. “We went for coffee, that’s all. You hardly wanted to talk about Arizona this morning, how was I supposed to mention it to you first?”

Arizona cringed at the use of her name and held up a hand to interrupt. “Please leave me out of this,” she spoke quietly, darting her eyes up to Callie’s for the briefest of moments.

Callie faltered. “Arizona,” she murmured, recognizing the disappointment in her expression.

Erica was quick to notice. “You lied to her too,” she said, and, against her better judgment, it made her smirk.

Callie exhaled sharply. There was no way she was going to win this one. Her defensive nature was starting to kick in, even if she was the horse’s ass between the three of them.

Arizona risked a glance at Erica before turning away from Callie all together. “I have a patient,” she said to no one in particular, then took her leave before things got worse.

A stab of annoyance swept through Callie as she watched her stalk away, even though she realized she didn’t have the right to be mad. She felt abandoned at the worst possible moment, whether or not it was her fault.

“Was that really necessary?” she shot to Erica. “You didn’t need to drag her into this.”

Erica was fuming. “ _You_ dragged her into this, Callie. You dragged both of us into this. You flat out lied to me, for _her_. Do you have any idea what that feels like?”

Excuses and justifications ran wildly through Callie’s mind, each one more adamant than the last, but nothing she came up with seemed like a worthy defense. Erica was right, but that only seemed to piss Callie off even more.

“I shouldn’t have to ask for permission to see an old friend,” she argued. “I’m a grown-ass woman, Erica. We wanted to catch up without making a big thing of it, which I knew you would.”

Erica was already shaking her head in disbelief. “What makes you think you needed ‘permission’ in the first place? I’m not your keeper, Torres, you can see whomever you want.”

Callie snorted, incredulously. “So you’re saying, what, you would’ve been okay with it if I’d told you first?”

“Why not? You said it yourself, you’re a grown-ass woman,” Erica said sarcastically. She pointed in the direction Arizona had gone. “I don’t have to like her, but I’m not about to dictate whom you may or may not speak to. The problem here is that you lied about it, so don’t you _dare_ try to blame me.”

The fact that Erica had the moral high ground on her was infuriating. Callie knew she should shut up and apologize, but the stubborn idiot controlling the sensible part of her brain that morning was still in the driver’s seat. “Oh come on, you would have told me off and you know it,” she sighed. “All I’ve heard about for the last two days is how angry you are that she’s here, how much you don’t want anything to do with her, etcetera etcetera. Your work issues have nothing to do with me, yet here I am in the middle of them anyway.”

Erica looked stung but she glared at Callie nonetheless. “I don’t think it’s unreasonable to ask you to show me some respect. To show our relationship some respect.”

Remorse flew out the window. “Respect?” Callie shot back, cocking an eyebrow. “You really want to talk about respecting our relationship?”

“Yes, of course, please tell me why I’m wrong this time,” Erica muttered, rolling her eyes.

Callie was painfully aware that they had attracted attention from their surroundings and she had to calm herself before she blew like the Hindenburg. At work, in front of everyone. “You’re never around anymore,” she began. “There’s something that’s always more pressing, more important than me, than our relationship. You make excuses why we can’t spend time together or you avoid being home when I’m around.”

“I’m a surgeon, Torres, I have a job to do,” Erica said. “If you want someone that will sit around and play house with you-”

“Sofia is my _daughter_ ,” Callie cut in, stepping closer to Erica and lowering her voice just enough to keep it between them. “And you are the one who said you wanted to stay. Don’t you dare make me feel guilty for that.”

“I wasn’t…” Erica trailed off and, for a moment, she looked less inflamed than before. “I wasn’t talking about Sofia. This isn’t about Sofia.”

“It’s always about Sofia,” Callie countered. She had no idea how they’d even ended up here, but suddenly all of her insecurities were spilling forth. “You avoid me because of Sofia. You come over when the day is already over, you leave so early in the morning that we don’t even see each other for more than a second before work. It’s been this way for months.”

“Don’t you dare tell me that I haven’t been trying,” Erica growled. “I’ve done more than enough to accommodate you and Sofia in my life. I’m cautious _because_ you have a daughter and I respect that enough to be careful while we’re figuring out where we stand.” She flapped a hand in the other direction. “Meanwhile you go gallivanting off with the bimbo that left you specifically _because_ she didn’t want your children. Class act, Torres.“

As soon as that sentence left her mouth, Erica cringed. Maybe she could have done without that last part but she had never been very good at filtering things when she was angry. Getting the last word in was a hazardous personality trait.

The insult had the intended effect, however, and Callie felt like she’d been slapped across the face. Immediately she set her emotions on lockdown and released a long, heavy sigh in response. “Arizona has nothing to do with what’s going on between you and me, Erica. I’m sorry that I lied, it was a shitty move, but this goes so far beyond her. I don’t even…”

“I think you’re right.” Erica was careful to disguise her disappointment. The air between them felt hollow and dry.

Callie dropped her eyes away and readjusted her bag. “I’ve got patients to see, I don’t want to keep doing this.”

Erica stepped aside and motioned past her. “Be my guest.”

Callie clenched her jaw as she brushed by her girlfriend and chose the direction leading away from Arizona’s departure. She needed to clear her head before risking any more run-ins with either of those two.

***

Cristina made fourteen and a half passes by Allison Tanner’s room before Dr. Robbins finally emerged. Judging by the look on her face, Cristina had been about as subtle as a Bedazzled elephant performing ballet, and Arizona failed to look surprised when she chose to pounce. 

“Dr. Robbins,” Cristina said in a loud voice, sliding into step beside her. “How are you this morning? Enjoying Seattle?”

Distracted by a mountain of paperwork and the day’s earlier conflict, Arizona frowned while she attempted to balance coffee and a muffin amongst her briefcase and some files. ”I’m good, thanks, Dr. Yang. Do you think you could…?”

Cristina eagerly grabbed the briefcase and extra paperwork, stuffing it all under her arm and keeping hot on Arizona’s heels. “I just wanted to let you know that Dr. McHale called this morning while you were out. He said to give him a call back when you have the chance. Oh, and I also checked on the cells in the lab downstairs this morning, everything seems to be moving along on schedule. And I took the liberty to clear the Chief Resident’s office downstairs if you need somewhere more private to work while you’re in town.”

Arriving at the nurse’s desk, Arizona dumped her purse and set the coffee down, then slid a chart out from the pile in Cristina’s arms. Her mind had been absent for most of the morning and she only half heard what was being said. “Thanks, that’ll help.”

Cristina folded her hands behind her back and puffed up triumphantly, waiting for the trial invite to come her way. Any second now, if Callie had already done the preliminary work ahead of time, she would be sealing her name into all published research papers for the next five years.

Checking her watch, Arizona groaned at the realization that she needed to call her boss back before he left for New York. She still hadn’t been able to change into her scrubs or put her stuff away in a locker; the issues with Callie had transitioned into a crazy morning with little time between tasks. Maybe it was for the better.

The lack of response started to weigh on Cristina, who quickly started up again before anything could interrupt them. “Listen, Dr. Robbins,” she began. “I was wondering if you had given any thought to-”

“Sorry, Yang, I’ve got to make this call,” Arizona cut in, her attention focused on her cellphone. “Come find me later.” Her mind was already a million miles ahead of where she was standing and she left Cristina solo by the desk.

Cristina watched her go, along with any chance of becoming a full partner on the cardio trial of the century.

Callie was a dead woman.

***

_“Torres!”_

Callie was busy studying a femur fracture in the x-ray room when the door burst open and Cristina stormed in. The dramatic entrance hardly made her blink; instead she leaned closer to the light box and poked at part of the image. “Does this look fuzzy to you?” she asked, tracing a finger along the edge of the bone line. “I’m not sure I like our new radiologist.”

“Did you not talk to Robbins about signing me onto this trial?” Cristina demanded, ignoring the question. “It was like she had no idea where I was going with the whole ‘hello, how are you doing’ thing.”

Callie snorted, still focused on the image in front of her. “Maybe she just thought you were being nice.”

Now it was Cristina’s turn to roll her eyes. “In other words, no. You suck, you know that, right?”

Callie swiveled on the balls of her feet and fixed her colleague with a pained smile. “She’s a busy woman, what did you expect? You’re not exactly easy to slip into the conversation.”

Cristina’s mouth thinned. “I asked you for half a sentence, max, so it’s at least on her mind.”

Callie had to think about her conversation with Arizona and what had actually been said about Cristina, if anything. Her former roommate had been the last thing on her mind that morning. “Oh! I said you were a decent Godmother to Sofia,” she added, perking up. “Arizona didn’t believe me at first and I had to do some hard selling, but I think she kind of took me seriously by the end. She was impressed.”

Cristina threw her hands up in exasperation. “Can I not get _anyone_ to do me a favor around here? It’s like pulling teeth. If I wanted to do that, I would’ve become an orthodontist.”

Callie snatched her x-ray from the wall box and flicked off the light. “Relax, I’ll still put in a good word for you,” she mused, giving Cristina a brief pat on the shoulder.

“I don’t trust you not to have another senior moment.” Cristina released a heavy sigh and crossed her arms, unamused. “Did she say anything else? About the trial, how long she’s here for?”

Callie pondered that. “She said not to leave you alone with Sofia and a box of Gobstoppers, but otherwise no, not really.”

Cristina dropped her face into her hands and began kneading her forehead. “You’re a crappy friend, Torres.”

“So I’ve been told,” Callie grumbled, frowning at the thought of her girlfriend and their little ‘conversation’ in the lobby.

Despite her grievances, Cristina noted the dip in Callie’s shoulders. “How did it go, anyway? What did you guys talk about?”

Callie smirked as she slipped the x-ray back into an envelope. “What are you doing?”

Cristina blinked a few times, confused. “What do you mean, ‘what am I doing?’ I’m asking you a question.”

“You hate talking about relationships,” Callie said bluntly. "Especially when it comes to my former or current.”

Cristina rolled her eyes and paced away a few steps, leaning into a small work table against the back wall. “It’s obvious that you and Blondie two-point-oh were having some serious mommy issues, then Blondie version one rolls back into the picture. Using my powers of deduction, I figure that’s gotta be awkward.”

Callie chuckled to herself. “It’s unbelievable how compassionate you are for other people’s problems. Really, I’m touched.”

“Okay, shut up,” Cristina scowled, turning for the door.

“Wait,” Callie called out before she could make it there. “You really want to know about me and Arizona? And me and Erica?”

Cristina’s pause was perhaps longer than Callie would have liked, but in the end she said, “Yes.”

Callie took her place against the opposite wall and leaned into it, arms crossed and eyes trained on the other surgeon. “It was weird. And fun, and bizarre. But the talking was good, we didn’t have any trouble catching up once we got rolling.”

“So you told her about Sofia?”

Callie cringed at the memory of how that one came out. “She sort of saw me with her last night by the daycare. Safe to say she was shocked, but it’s all good now. She was happy for me.”

Cristina caught the brief flicker of excitement in Callie’s eyes and jumped on it before she got ahead of herself. “Just because she’s back from Timbuktu doesn’t mean you should start thinking about weirdass chicken coups and blonde brats running around your imaginary dream home. I was around for the fallout the last time you two idiots got tangled in each other’s hair, why go there again?”

Callie quirked an eyebrow. “I know you think you’ve got everyone pegged, but we’re not the Beverly Hillbillies. Arizona and I are...it’s weird thinking of being friends with her, but I think we can do it. We’re adults, there’s no reason we can’t put the past behind us and just enjoy getting to know each other again.”

Cristina had heard that one before. Being ‘friends’ with Owen had just lead to a lot of angsty sex and more hurt feelings. “Look, she’s only been here for twenty-four hours. Your drunk-and-on-acid goggles should wear off by tomorrow morning, and then you’ll start acting like a smart person again,” she argued. “You and Robbins are not meant to be together; don’t even let your mind go there.” She paused. “Even if you are dating the Grinch and could do way better.”

Callie rolled her eyes. “Thank you, Dr. Phil.”

Cristina fixed her with an inquisitive stare and stuffed her hands into her pockets. Her discomfort was obvious. “Okay, look, I don’t do relationship advice. Usually, Mer just talks at me and I talk at her at the same time, and we figure it out over wine and tequila. But you look unhappy lately, and as much as I hate to admit it, you weren’t once upon a time.”

“Cristina,” Callie warned, unsure if she wanted anyone else piping into this topic, especially after that morning.

“At one point you and Hahn actually seemed to like each other,” Cristina said pointedly, “but these last few months...” There wasn’t much of a fully-formed thought in her head, so she ended up shrugging. “All I’m saying is that you don’t look like you’re very happy right now, and all of a sudden someone comes along that reminds you of a different time in your life. It’s not a good idea to mix those two feelings; bad things will happen and someone’s gonna get stabbed with a scalpel. So if you’re having fuzzy feelings for Robbins based on old memories, you need to keep your distance.”

Callie scrunched her face. Some of what Cristina was saying actually made sense. That didn’t mean she wanted to listen to it. “So you’re saying I should ignore her while she’s here?”

“I’m saying you need to be careful,” Cristina corrected. “You only just figured out that she’s back in Seattle and the last thing you need is for your judgment to be impaired for convenience's sake. Don’t make your life more complicated than it already is.”

Callie pondered for a moment. “But still talk to her about you and get you a job on her trial.”

“Yes, essentially.”

“Erica and I fought.” Callie threw that in there just for reference.

“Oh no, the world is ending,” Cristina deadpanned. “Because that’s never happened before.”

“This felt...different.” Callie let her body collapse into the only chair in the room and braced an elbow on the table beside it. “We said things. Mean things. True things.” Her thumb traced a chipped edge along the surface. “I didn’t tell her I saw Arizona this morning. She saw us come in together.”

Despite her less than spectacular opinion of her boss, Cristina cringed. “That was dumb. I take it she didn’t like it?”

“Pretty much,” Callie said faintly, frown lines creasing her forehead. Any way she looked at it, she would be lucky if Erica _or_ Arizona ever spoke to her again. “Arizona didn’t seem too happy about it either.”

Callie was starting to pout - that wouldn’t do. Cristina walked the six steps across the room and smacked her upside the head.

_“Ow!”_ Callie jerked away and glowered. “What was that for?”

“I’m saving you from yourself,” Cristina barked. ““Either stop feeling sorry for yourself and go talk to both of them, or get on with your life and be a doctor. You moping around and making me give out relationship advice is weird and uncomfortable. I’m half-divorced and hardly capable of handling these things in my own life.”

Callie rose out of her chair, slow and steady, and debated whether or not she wanted to smack Cristina right back. Ultimately, she was right, which was _so_ irritating. “Fine.”

“Which?”

“I don’t know.”

Reaching out, Cristina gingerly patted Callie on the shoulder. “I don’t want to listen to you sob into your Cheerios every morning for the next six months. If I can hear snot splashing into your milk over my iPod, you need help.”

Despite her better judgment, Callie laughed. “God, you are so annoying.”

“And I’m always right,” Cristina agreed with a triumphant nod. She offered Callie a genuine smile as they exited the room, breaking the cocoon of secrecy they had sequestered themselves in for the last half an hour.

Callie fell silent along the way, her mind full of too many thoughts without enough space to form them. “Thanks, Cristina,” she said after a long pause, finally looking over to her.

“If you want to thank me, you owe me one Yang-would-be-awesome-on-your-trial speech to Robbins,” Cristina pointed out. “Don’t forget or I will hurt you.” She paused, then added “Please,” for good measure.

Callie’s frown was starting to fade and she couldn’t stop herself from smirking instead. “Fine. I’ll talk to Arizona for you. But no promises.”

“That’s all I ask,” Cristina agreed. “Half a sentence, tops.”

***

The make-shift office Cristina had secured for Arizona turned out to be no bigger than a broom closet. Arizona barely fit into it herself amongst the piles of paper and old filing boxes that were sitting around, collecting dust. There was just barely enough space on the desk to sit down and go through Allison’s medical history one more time, while she made notes on her chart and finalized the treatment schedule going forward.

A knock on the door made her glance up, while a banker box blocked her view. “Come in,” she called out, craning her neck to see who it was.

Chief Webber stepped inside the room. “Dr. Robbins, I see you’re getting...acclimated,” he said, scanning the disaster zone around them.

Despite the dust hovering in the air that was making her eyes water, Arizona smiled brightly at her former boss. “I’m just glad to have a place I can work. Please, take a seat - if you can find one. Somewhere there’s a chair.”

The Chief chuckled as he grabbed a stack of papers off of the only other seat in the room and took their place. “I’ll get someone in here to help clear things out tomorrow.”

“Thanks, Chief.”

“How is your patient doing?”

“Okay so far.” Arizona flipped through a stack of papers to get Allison’s vitals from morning rounds. “She was running a bit of a fever earlier but it’s gone down since I checked on her. I’m still waiting on Dr. McHale to get the go-ahead and prep her for the stem cell transplant, but I need her to be feeling better before she goes under. It might be another week or so before I actually get her in the OR. Hopefully sooner.”

Webber nodded in agreement. “Good. Sounds like you’ve got everything under control.” Despite the vote of confidence, he shifted in his seat, signaling that he had something further he wanted to discuss. “Since it seems like you may have a little extra time on your hands in between dealing with the trial, would you consider getting back into our PEDS rotation? We’re short staffed right now and could really use the extra set of hands. No pressure, of course, but you _were_ the best pediatric surgeon I ever had on staff. We’d be honored to give you privileges while you’re in town.”

Arizona’s brow rose in surprise. “Oh, wow. Yeah, maybe,” she said, thinking about the request and whether she would have the time. She hadn’t exactly thought about getting involved beyond the craziness of the trial, but she did have a little wiggle room while waiting for the stars to align. Unfortunately, time wasn’t her only concern here.

“You know I would love to help you out, Chief, but...have you checked with Dr. Stark yet?” she asked tentatively. “He doesn’t exactly seem to be my biggest fan. I have a feeling he’ll just think I’m invading his turf if you put me back into the department on a temporary basis.”

Richard sat forward in his chair. “Don’t you worry about Stark, I’ll talk to him. The offer is yours if you want it, no pressure.” The eagerness in his eyes said otherwise.

Arizona grinned at him. “Yeah, that’s great, I can probably swing that in between paperwork conference calls. I’ll talk to my boss and make sure he’s okay with me pulling double duty.”

“Tell him he swiped my best surgeon before I even knew she was back in the country, he _owes_ me.” Webber arched a stiff eyebrow before he rose from his chair. “If you’re too busy this afternoon, that’s fine, but a girl came into the ER earlier with several injuries. Equestrian accident, I think. Drop by the nurses station when you make your rounds again to pick up her chart. I already have you assigned to the case.”

So much for the lack of pressure. Still, Arizona didn’t mind. She was itching to distract herself with something fun. “Sure, I’ll get right on it.”

Richard had almost completely exited the office before he paused in the doorway. “Welcome back, Dr. Robbins.”

“I’m not back,” Arizona said for the second time that week, only this time she said it with a smile.

***

If Callie was expected to make it through the rest of her day, she was going to need a serious caffeine boost. Her next patient was already waiting when she came to the surgical floor holding the largest cup size in the building. Four hours had passed since her confrontation with Erica and Callie could still feel it eating away at her insides. A relationship-induced ulcer was not her ideal way to start off motherhood.

Gulping several mouthfuls of coffee, she prepared to tell the girl’s parents that she needed surgery on her knee. She wasn’t even halfway down the hall before a shrill, raised voice trickled towards her ears. Callie issued a silent prayer that it wasn’t coming from her patient’s room, but as with everything else that day, she was out of luck.

Readying herself for cranky parents and a long-winded explanation, Callie entered the room with a smile on her face. “Mr. and Mrs. Copeland, I’m Dr. Torres,” she introduced herself, extending a hand to both of them.

Mrs. Copeland was too busy on her BlackBerry to do more than glance briefly at Callie. “Dale, honey, could you grab my bag from the car? I left some papers in there that we’ll probably need when the vet calls.”

“You don’t think it can wait until _after_ we talk to the surgeon? Honey,” Mr. Copeland was quick to add. He looked uncomfortable and was undoubtedly the receiver of all the yelling Callie had heard from miles away.

Mrs. Copeland rolled her eyes, proving Callie’s assumption correct. “Useless,” she muttered under her breath, striding over to her daughter’s bedside. The kid look subdued and unhappy, probably a side effect of the painkillers. “Casey, the doctor is here. Pay attention.”

Callie was just basking in the love. She really disliked dealing with troublesome parents, but then that’s what Arizona had always been really great at. Usually Callie hid in the back of the room until the dragons had been tamed, at which point she would step forward to give her two cents.

“Mrs. Copeland,” she began, only she never got a chance to finish her sentence.

“Does she need surgery?” snapped the patient’s mother. “She has a show on the east coast circuit in a month, things had better be back to normal by then.”

The woman’s abrasiveness made Callie bristle. She tried to brush it off and opened her mouth again, only Mrs. Copeland kept talking.

“I think you should go with one of those minimally invasive treatments I heard about on Oprah last month,” Mrs. Copeland continued, barely issuing a breath between orders. “You know, the single incision with the surgical wand thing? Use those so she can get back on her feet faster. We don’t want this to cause any more issues than it already has. The timing is horribly inconvenient.”

Casey, the nine year old patient, cast her eyes downward. It broke Callie’s heart.

“I don’t want surgery,” the girl whispered, tears welling behind her eyes.

Despite being on edge, Callie managed to keep her voice calm. If anything, it was for the little girl’s sake. Watching her mother get strangled wouldn’t do her mental health any good. “Don’t worry, it won’t be scary at all,” she said lightly, then glanced at the mother. “She’ll need a more detailed x-ray of her leg; I want a better idea of what I’ll see when I get in th-”

“Hold on,” Mrs. Copeland interrupted, sticking a hand in Callie’s face and effectively stopping the explanation. Callie recoiled and blinked, dumbfounded.

Three failed tries at making a call had the mother fuming. “Damn it. Dale, honey, why can’t I get cell phone reception in here? Clive is supposed to call me at one o’clock and if I don’t pick up, he’s going to be pissed.”

Callie ground her molars together and started counting to ten in silence. She was about two seconds from tossing Mrs. Copeland and her BlackBerry out the third floor window, tact be damned. Days like today were not prone to bringing out the best side of her.

“I really think we need to listen to the doctor right now,” her husband replied, looking fearful for speaking up. Callie could practically see the word ‘Doormat’ stamped on his forehead. His efforts to make his wife listen were falling on deaf ears.

Growling out loud, exasperated, Mrs. Copeland dumped the phone back into her purse and tossed it onto the visitor’s chair. “Fine, fine. What are we looking at here? We have insurance but I’d rather not max out our medical just yet, so nothing fancy, just make sure she’s okay.”

“She needs surgery,” Callie blurted out while she had the chance. Any longer of a sentence and she didn’t think she’d be allowed to finish.

Casey’s father moved to his daughter’s side and took her hand in a tight squeeze. “It’s okay, sweetie. You’ll be just fine. Copeland women are tough as nails, you’ll bounce back in no time.”

Casey still looked frightened. “Is Archer okay? He hurt his leg too.”

Callie frowned and looked around for an explanation. “Archer?”

Casey perked up. “He’s my horse. Daddy, is he okay? Can the nice doctor lady give him surgery too?”

That created an amusing image in Callie’s mind. Casey on one operating table, a giant horse on the other. “I’m not a pony doctor, but I’m sure your parents know a really good one,” she offered, hoping to placate the girl’s worries.

Casey looked to her father again. “Daddy, where’s Archer?” she repeated, a trickle of fear starting to show.

Dale was hesitant to answer. He glanced back at his wife and she just rolled her eyes at him. “Tell her, Dale.”

“Tell me what?” Casey demanded. Beside her, Callie grimaced. This wasn’t sounding good.

The father looked apprehensive, but as he opened his mouth to speak they were interrupted by someone rapping their knuckles on the door. Callie turned around to spot Arizona standing there, looking sheepish and out of place.

“Hi, Dr. Torres,” she spoke softly. “Chief Webber sent me down for a consultation. Do you mind if I listen in?”

Callie had to work really hard not to groan out loud.

Perfect.

Arizona stepped into the room and put on a happy smile for her patient. “My name is Dr. Robbins,” she introduced herself, making the rounds and shaking hands. “I’ve just been assigned your daughter’s case along with Dr. Torres.” 

“Another surgeon?” Mrs. Copeland growled to her husband. “Insurance had better cover all of this, or else I’ll be complaining to the board of directors about what a money grabbing operation you’re trying to run here. Why does she need two of you? She fell off a horse, not a skyscraper.”

Arizona blinked. She shared a brief look with Callie, momentarily forgetting about their issues.

Despite the early morning drama, Callie suddenly found herself thankful that someone else was on this case with her, even if that person was Arizona. Arizona was way better at dealing with difficult parents than Callie and much less likely to land them both in jail on assault charges.

Callie mustered up the energy to put her best foot forward, for all of their sakes. “I was just about to tell the Copeland’s that we’ll need to schedule Casey’s treatment for the morn-”

“Marcel!” Mrs. Copeland didn’t seem to realize she had cut Callie off yet again when her Blackberry rang. “I told you to cancel my nine-a.m. flight tomorrow, what’s this I hear about pushback from the client?

Callie’s lips were razor thin and she balled up her fists. One more interruption and-

Arizona stepped closer and subtly rest a hand on her forearm. “Let it go,” she whispered to Callie, giving her a light squeeze.

The gentle undertone helped stymie some of Callie’s inner rage, though just barely. She growled instead and tossed up her other hand in defeat. “I quit,” she muttered, offering Arizona a weak smile. “I assume you’ve read her chart?”

“Briefly,” Arizona mused. She kept her smile hidden as she took the clipboard handed to her, then released Callie’s arm.

“Good luck,” Callie muttered. She folded both arms across her chest and stood aside for Arizona to take over.

In spite of everything, Arizona had trouble hiding her amusement. She recognized Callie’s expression - it was her “I’m going to punch someone” face, which would have been worrisome if it wasn’t so damn cute.

“Mrs. Copeland,” Arizona said in a loud voice, drawing the woman’s attention her way. “We need to discuss your daughter’s care. Please put the phone away for a few minutes so we can go over her options. I promise we’ll be quick.”

Mrs. Copeland narrowed her eyes and kept the phone glued to her ear. Callie prepared for an invisible barb to aim itself at Arizona’s head.

Finally growing a pair, the husband reached over and snatched away the phone, ignoring the angry protest his wife uttered at him. “Honey, _please_. Just listen to the doctor right now. Work can wait for five minutes.”

Only when she realized that all four people in the room were staring at her impatiently did Mrs. Copeland relent. “Fine. Let’s make this quick, please.”

Arizona nodded before shifting her gaze to Casey, the patient whom deserved their attention most. She gave the little girl a friendly smile and received one in return.

“Casey, my name is Dr. Robbins,” she began. “I’m a friend of Dr. Torres here. Would you mind if I took a quick look at the bruise on your side while she tells you about your knee?”

Casey bit her lip and looked to her parents, one of which was still fuming, and received a nod from her father. “Okay,” she said in a shy voice, dropping her gaze.

It never ceased to amaze Callie how Arizona could take control of a situation with very little effort. She made her way to the opposite side of Casey’s bed, ignoring her mother for the time being, and rolled back Casey’s gown to expose her knee. “This might hurt a little, but I promise not too badly.”

The lack of arguing from her parents seemed to calm the patient down. “Okay.”

It didn’t take Callie long to figure out that Casey’s kneecap had been dislocated in her fall, perhaps a little more severely than she originally thought. Casey had been given pain medication but she whimpered while Callie examined her leg. It was hard to tell if there was any damage to bone or cartilage underneath until they got their extra x-rays, so she reluctantly turned back to the parents for a final explanation. “Her kneecap is definitely dislocated. We might need an MRI to get a better look, and at that point we’ll schedule her for surgery. It’ll likely happen tomorrow.”

Mr. Copeland smoothed a hand across his daughter’s forehead. “Don’t worry, Case. You’ll be back on your feet in no time.”

Callie glanced at Arizona while she scribbled down some notes on her chart, signaling that it was her turn.

Arizona pulled out a copy of the scan they had taken in the ER shortly after her arrival. “Her CT showed no head trauma beyond a decent goose-egg. Her helmet made a huge difference, so I’m not worried about a concussion.” She flashed Casey a bright grin before continuing. “You’re a smart girl, always wearing your helmet.”

“Safety first,” Casey said, parroting her instructor.

Arizona nodded her approval before continuing. “There is some bleeding around her liver. It likely happened when she landed, or if she got kicked during the spill. There’s a chance it could heal on its own, but I’d like to go in and repair it while Dr. Torres repairs her leg. Doing both at once would eliminate the necessity to go back in later.”

Casey’s eyes were wide as dinner plates, so Arizona quickly placed a hand on her non-injured arm. “Don’t worry. I’m an expert when it comes to minimally-invasive surgeries. You’ll be sleepy for a day or so, but we’ll keep you nice and comfy here in the Peds unit. You’ll barely even have a scar once you get out of here.”

For once, Casey’s mother was starting to look worried. “So what do we do now?”

“I’ll send her for the scans I need, then Dr. Robbins and I will schedule her into the OR for early tomorrow afternoon,” Callie said. “Tonight we’ll make sure she’s comfortable and assign a nurse to check in regularly.”

“It’s a great excuse to get your parents to feed you ice cream and let you watch movies all day,” Arizona said with a wink.

“What about Archer?” the girl repeated yet again. “He fell down when I did.” She looked at Callie with pleading eyes. “You’re the bone doctor, can’t you fix his leg, too? Please? I need to see him.”

Callie almost choked on her own tongue. Given the way her father had reacted earlier, she wasn’t expecting the horse to be in good shape. Delivering bad news to little kids wasn’t something she enjoyed; she had no idea how Arizona did it for a living.

Though, to be fair, she didn’t usually have to tell them that their favourite pet was dog food.

Arizona noted Callie’s silent panic and casually nodded, urging her to answer.

Callie cleared her throat, willing one of the parents to jump in and save her. “It takes a special kind of doctor to help animals like Archer. I can’t help him here, but I’m sure he’s...in good hands?” She cocked an eyebrow at the father.

Casey’s eyes started to well up. “Daddy, does Archer have a bone doctor too?”

Mr. Copeland sat heavily on the edge of her bed. “Sweetie, we need to talk about Archer for a second,” he whispered.

Callie and Arizona gravitated to the other side of the room, giving the family some space. They watched Casey burst into tears and throw herself into her father’s arms. Even the mother looked sad, though it was somewhat negated by her texting someone using her peripheral vision.

If Callie’s heart physically had strings, they would have snapped like piano wire. “Okay, her knee sucks and she’s bleeding internally, and somehow I feel like her horse dying is the shittiest part of this whole thing,” she whispered to Arizona.

Arizona automatically reached out to squeeze Callie’s arm again, keeping the move slight and between them. It never really got easier, giving kids or parents bad news, but she had learned to compartmentalize it years ago. Callie had a huge heart and Arizona had loved her for it once upon a time - but she wouldn’t have made a good pediatric surgeon. Callie would have felt it all too personally when it came to helping dying kids day after day.

Casey’s wailing graduated to quiet hiccups, which was apparently the signal for Mrs. Copeland to lose her patience. “Dale,” she sighed. “She’s a big girl, you need to stop babying her. We’ll get her another horse when she’s better.”

Callie and Arizona exchanged looks, cringing.

“She’s nine, Cheryl,” her husband shot back, keeping a tight hold on his daughter, “and she’s about to have surgery. Grow a heart and let her grieve.”

Mrs. Copeland looked like she was about to yell again, so Arizona cut them both off. “ _Okay!_ ” she said loudly, stepping in before more barbs could be thrown. “I think it’s important that Casey gets some rest. You two can go grab dinner in the cafeteria.”

“It’s four-o’clock,” Mrs. Copeland sniffed.

“I wasn’t asking,” Arizona said firmly. “Take an hour while we move her upstairs to radiology. I’ll have a nurse sit with Casey so she doesn’t get lonely after the scans are finished.” Her eyes swiveled to the patient. “Is that okay with you, Casey?”

Casey let go of her father and nodded, sniffling loudly. She looked more than ready to be rid of her mother.

Mrs. Copeland scoffed at Arizona before grabbing her belongings and yanking her husband away from the bed. “I expect to be informed as soon as you know more.”

“Of course,” Callie said as the Copelands breezed by her. She swore that the air temperature in the room rose ten degrees as soon as the devil woman was gone.

Callie refocused on the one member of this family that she actually liked. “One of our residents will be in to take you for an x-ray, then you can get some sleep when you’re back here. Take it easy Casey, okay? You have nothing to worry about tomorrow.”

Casey nodded, her eyes already starting to droop closed. A nurse arrived to change out her pain killers, so she wasn’t alone when Callie and Arizona left the room.

Callie emitted a loud groan and dropped her head back as they shuffled to the surgical desk. She tossed the chart she was carrying away before rubbing her sinuses in a wide circle. “Thank god you came in when you did, because I swear I would’ve killed that mom.” She leaned into the desk and watched Arizona write a few notes in the chart. “Talk about a walking, talking reason you should need a license to procreate. She has no right to be mothering anything with a pulse, let alone that sweet kid in there.”

Arizona smiled a little and gave a half shrug. “Welcome to Peds. Half the time I want to smother the parents with a pillow, but unfortunately they need to sign the medical forms.”

Callie hummed and watched Arizona shuffle some things around the desk. She couldn’t quite tell if the blonde was purposefully avoiding eye contact or if it was just her imagination, but the way Arizona had handled Callie’s temper back there made her drop her guard. She assumed they were back on track.

“Want to grab some coffee?” she asked after a moment, absently picking a hang nail. “I’m half asleep and diner coffee is never strong enough. I haven’t eaten since breakfast, either.”

Arizona lifted an eyebrow and eventually turned to face her. “I don’t think that’s going to happen again, Calliope,” she said slowly, stuffing her hands into her lab coat pockets.

Callie scrunched her forehead, surprised at how wary Arizona was looking at her. “Uh, okay. Why?”

Arizona shook her head, incredulous. “Gee, I don’t know. It was only a little bit weird that you flat-out lied to your girlfriend about us having breakfast this morning. And then came the whole part where she screamed at us in the lobby. Can’t say I’m _incredibly_ pleased with you after pulling me into that mess.”

Callie’s defenses began to rise, compounded by the nasty patient encounter that already had her on edge. “You’re over-reacting! Erica’s not an easy person to reason with sometimes, I didn’t want to make a big deal out of it.”

“You lied to both of us,” Arizona pointed out. “By default that makes it a big deal. I can’t believe you’re not seeing this.”

Of all the people Callie expected to take Erica’s side in an argument, Arizona would be last one on that roster. Having them both point out she was a jerk only made her natural bullishness come out in force. “Look, I wanted to see you, okay? Erica would’ve complicated things, so I thought we would talk before I told her. I don’t get why you’re so pissed off when this really doesn’t affect you.”

Arizona ground her teeth together and fixed Callie with a disbelieving stare. Sometimes she marveled at how blind she could be to the bigger issues; for an incredibly smart woman, sometimes Callie just didn’t get it.

“You lied to her _about_ me, Callie, and in doing so you put me in a _hell_ of a position.” Arizona took a quick peek around them and lowered her voice. They didn’t need a repeat performance. “I already have to work with her against her will and now you’ve got me mixed up in your relationship problems. We are so not okay right now.”

Callie groaned out loud. “You had issues with Erica before we even talked, Arizona, and _you_ sought me out for a meeting. Don’t pretend like you didn’t know that would cause issues between you two and try to put this whole thing on me.”

“I wanted things to be normal between us,” Arizona snapped, “I wanted us to act like adults. But that’s the exact _opposite_ of what you’re doing by lying to Erica and dragging me into the middle of it!”

“Oh, so now I’m a child. Great, thanks,” Callie said hotly, crossing her arms again. “I’m starting to think we should just go back to ignoring each other while you’re here. Maybe that would make things ‘easier’ on you, since you’re so concerned with appearances.”

Arizona looked away, shaking her head, wondering how on earth they managed to go from such a high point to the bottom of the gravel pit in under four hours. “Maybe that’s not a bad idea. We’ve both got enough on our plates.”

Even though Callie knew she was the mastermind of her own fate in this one, she couldn’t get past how much it stung to have Arizona be the one to point it out. She didn’t know if she was more furious at her ex-girlfriend or at herself right now, but Arizona jumping into the fray made it that much harder to stomach.

“Maybe you should excuse yourself from this case,” Callie said bitterly, avoiding all eye contact. “Bailey could probably handle it.”

The suggestion made Arizona bristle. “No, Chief Webber asked me to step in and take this one. I’m an adult, I can handle being in the same OR for an afternoon. If that’s a problem for you, ask an ortho resident to take over the knee repair.”

“You can drop the holier-than-thou attitude, Arizona,” Callie barked. “You’re here on _my_ turf; I don’t have to be the one to tip-toe around you.”

Arizona knew they were being watched by more than one staff member hovering nearby but she kept her focus pinpointed on Callie. “You need to realize this isn’t all about you, Callie. I know you like to think the world revolves around what’s happening in your life, but there are other people you’re hurting.”

Callie straightened her posture. “You know what? Mind your own business. I really don’t care what goes on between you and Erica, but we’re through here.” She reached for a different chart on the desk and stuffed it under her arm in a hurry. “I’ve got another surgery to get to - helping a little boy learn to walk again, but hey, it isn’t about me, so why should I care?” She glared holes through Arizona’s forehead and bumped her shoulder on the way by.

It was on rare occasions that Callie found herself this pissed off, though it took a very particular set of circumstances to trigger this kind of reaction. She knew if she didn’t walk away in that moment, she would say even more horrible things she couldn't take back, so rather than engage further, she tried to let it go.

Maybe leaving twenty or thirty seconds earlier would have helped the situation, but she couldn’t do much about that now.

At the desk, Arizona resisted the urge to follow Callie while making a strangling motion with her hands. She was curbing the urge to squeeze a pillow in half or something equally as satisfying, which didn’t help as the only thing close by was other people. To this day, Calliope Torres was the _only_ woman that could ever make her this mad. Arizona barely understood why on the best of days and this definitely wasn’t one of those.

She closed her eyes, trying her hardest to find her inner equilibrium, and steadied herself for the next person she needed to see - Erica Hahn.


	6. Chapter 5

What had made for a quiet night so far turned sour just as Cristina was tying her shoes and preparing to head home. A frozen pizza and open bottle of wine were the only things waiting for her in an otherwise empty apartment, but it was the absence of people she craved more than the booze itself.

The singular peaceful moment of her day was shattered when Hurricane Torres blew into the change room. An unintelligible stream of Spanglish spewed forth; Callie started ripping her scrubs off and stuffing them violently into an open locker. She was either performing an incredibly pissed off striptease or else she had just been fired. Cristina was having a hard time figuring out which option was safest to assume.

Arching an eyebrow, confused, she waited for a good place to jump in. She figured she had two choices - leave before Callie realized it, or step in and stop her before she killed something with her bare hands. Neither option really appealed as someone that was already exhausted and full to the brim with other people's problems. Nonetheless, Cristina resigned herself to friend-duty one more time. Maybe she was going soft in her old age; this was the third time in a week.

“Callie,” she barked. “you’re gonna have to hit the translate button, I have no idea what you’re saying.”

Callie whirled on the spot, nostrils flared, and Cristina buried the urge to go with her original plan and make a run for it. “Work with me here,” she added. “What’s wrong?”

“I hate everyone,” Callie blurted. “That’s what’s wrong.”

“Okay then.” Cristina stood up and pulled on her jacket. “At least we can agree on something. Which Blondie pissed you off this time?”

Callie’s fingers swept through her hair, tangling, and she levelled a vicious glare on Cristina because she was the only person in the room. “She is just - I don’t even - who does she think she is?” she snapped, yanking a fresh t-shirt over her head before throwing her arms out in exasperation. For all she knew herself, she could be talking about either one of them. They were both pissing her off in equal bouts. She stared at Cristina like she was supposed to help her figure it out.

There was a lapse while Cristina tried to piece things together. All it did was make her headache swell. “A surgeon with a god complex?” she tried. It was vague enough to carry through the next sentence.

“To say the least,” Callie muttered. She couldn’t remember the last time she was this enraged over a simple argument. Somehow Arizona’s truth bomb had made her even angrier than Erica’s. Arizona always had a way of bringing out the most powerful of Callie’s emotions, be they good or bad. Their fights stung longer, words cut deeper, but it also meant their make-up sex was off-the-charts amazing by the time it came around. Of course, that wouldn’t do Callie any good now - Arizona’s visit had stirred up old baggage and it was swirling around her like a whirlpool of razor blades.

Cristina, lacking the necessary telekinesis for the one-sided conversation, was at a total loss. The only thing she had to go on was her conversation with Callie earlier in the day. The tired, hungry side of her was nearly out of fucks to give at this point. “Listen, if you’re done, I really have to-”

“Why did she have to come back? Why _now_?” Callie cut in, oblivious. “Everything was fine before Arizona just randomly appeared back in Seattle. Sofia and Erica and I were fine, and now, it’s - she’s just - argh!”

Callie slammed her locker shut and drove her fist into it, then abruptly deflated and rested her forehead against the cool metal. “I miss the days when I could just get drunk and forget my problems. Everything was so much easier.”

Now _that_ was something Cristina could work with. She jumped at the chance. “Who says you can’t? There’s a bar right across the street and two stools with our name on them.”

Callie popped one eye open and rolled it sideways without moving her head. “I think the nice people at Child Services would argue that it’s a bad idea to take your baby to a bar. I’ve only got a sitter on Thursdays and weekends.”

“Get Sloan to take her for a few hours,” Cristina suggested. “He’s Mr. Babysitter, isn’t he? You live right across the hall.”

“Cristina,” Callie sighed, frustrated and too tired to argue. “I just want to go home and punch a wall. I don’t want to get shitfaced and act like I’m twenty-five again.”

“Don’t punch things. You break these, you’re homeless,” Cristina pointed out, peeling Callie’s hand away from the locker before she got any more bright ideas. “And besides, you were already in your thirties the last time you used alcohol to solve your problems. How is this any different?”

Callie snorted and started rubbing her sinuses The pressure headache was making a comeback. “Apparently I’m a selfish ass, so it would fit the pattern. Sure, let’s go get drunk. Why not break a hand while I’m at it? Maybe two?”

“Okay,” Cristina said slowly, “you have a baby. A baby that will not appreciate sleeping in a box, so homelessness is not really an option.” She wrestled Callie back onto the bench and started passing over her belongings.

Cristina had a point. Callie liked running water too much to end up on the streets. “Fine,” she grumbled, digging her palms into her face and trying to squeeze the tension away. “It’s just - sometimes I hate that I like women. They’re complicated and impossible to please. Guys are so much easier, you fight and you make up by not talking about it ever again. Why can’t girls be like that?”

Cristina dropped into the space next to Callie. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but I’m really tired and kind of hoping we can take care of this quickly. You have twenty seconds to stuff your problems into a nutshell before I take you across the street and make you shotgun an ounce of tequila for every second you go over my time limit.”

Callie rolled her eyes. “ _She_ asked _me_ out for breakfast, _she_ pursed _me_. And all of a sudden I’m the bad guy? How is that fair?”

Cristina worked through the complexities of a singular pronoun.. “So the talk with Robbins went badly?”

“She blamed me for the whole thing,” Callie sighed. “I got defensive and argued, even though she’s pretty much right.” Her scowl said it all. “This is so annoying.”

“The righteousness is strong in that one,” Cristina mused. “Forget about her and Hahn and come out with me for an hour.”

“I have to pick Sofia up.”

“If you tell Sloan you need a night out, he’ll look after the squirt,” Cristina said. “He thinks you’re too uptight and need to get out more.”

Callie did a quick double take. “Did you just call my child a squirt?”

“Godmother rights,” Cristina smirked. “I get to call your spawn whatever I want.” She stood up and hauled Callie with her. “C’mon, you’re buying. That’s twice today I’ve had to dispense advice against my will. You need to recharge my batteries.”

“You haven’t said anything useful,” Callie point out.

“My wisdom comes at a price. We can talk about this over drinks - or not, because that’s the beauty of tequila.” Cristina grabbed her things and slung a bag over her shoulder, then fixed Callie with an expectant stare. “Coming?”

Callie still wasn’t convinced this was the best idea, but in the end she grabbed her things and removed her ass from the bench. “One drink. You can act like you’re listening, I can vent and feel like the bigger, better person in all of this, and nobody goes home with a one night stand. These are my terms.”

“Deal.” Cristina pushed open the exit. “We’re getting drunk.”

***

Callie checked her watch while balancing a squirmy Sofia in her arms, wondering how long she had to be the person standing in front of a bar with her baby in tow. It was colder than she’d thought and Sofia was getting fussy in her puffy pink coat, the lack of enthusiasm for a delayed bedtime obvious. Passers-by threw strange looks Callie’s way and she was starting to feel like her ‘Mother of the Year’ award would go to that homeless dude on the street corner that talked to himself every time she walked by.

“C’mon, Sloan,” she mumbled under her breath, glancing at her watch every few seconds. If he didn’t appear within the minute, she was calling the whole thing off and leaving Cristina on her own.

Finally, Mark and Julia appeared in the crosswalk leading from the parking lot to Emerald City bar. Callie flashed him a grateful smile as they stepped up the curb and arrived in front of her.

“Diaper bag, baby,” she said gruffly, kissing Sofia’s forehead and hefting her into Mark’s arms. “Mama’s gotta go babysit your godmother, mija. Have fun with Uncle Mark and I’ll see you tonight.”

Sofia blinked at her mother, then swivelled around to fix Mark with a puzzled stare. She immediately reached up and latched onto his beard with two tiny fists, breaking into a huge smile. She did it every time he was around, whether from amusement or a genuine dislike of the forest creature growing on his face, Callie didn’t know. She never bothered to discourage it.

Nonplussed, Mark grinned at his best friend and steered the infant away from his face. “Good thing your mom knows the hospital therapist. You’re gonna need her when you’re older, yes you are,” he cooed, voice pitched. Callie punched him in the ribs half-heartedly while Julia laughed.

“Thanks for letting us borrow the munchkin,” Mark’s girlfriend said, tugging on Sofia’s tiny boot.

“Oh no, thank _you_ ,” Callie emphasised. She dug out her phone to make sure it was charged for the evening.

“I’ve got enough stories to last you a lifetime, kid.” Mark chuckled as he patted Sofia on the back. “Things your Mama and I did she’ll look back on and cringe.” It didn’t take long for him to realize both women were glaring daggers. “Not sex,” he clarified. “Give me some credit here.”

Julia looped an arm through his. “And on that note, give us a call when you’re home. Don’t worry about the time, we’ll be up.”

Callie hesitated when Sofia peeked over Mark’s shoulder and whined in her direction. “Please don’t judge me,” she spoke quietly, feeling like the worst parent in the world. If she heard about some woman dumping her baby off so she could go drink at a bar, she would be full of opinions.

“Nobody’s judging you, Torres,” Mark soothed. “You need a night off. It’s been what, six months?”

“Eight,” Callie said glumly. “Still…”

“Go - be merry, relax, have a few drinks. Sofia will be fine and you can come get her in an hour.” He picked up Sofia’s arm and waved it at her. “I promise she’ll have all her fingers and toes, and hey, if not, I can sew them back on.”

“Funny,” Callie deadpanned. Finally, despite the lingering guilt still threatening to swallow her whole, she backtracked to the pub door. “Call if you need anything,” she added, waving to Sofia and her babysitters before disappearing inside. Any longer and she would have backed out for good.

Cristina had secured them space at the bar and immediately shoved two shot glasses under Callie’s nose. “I got started without you,” she announced, tipping back the one in front of her.

Callie wrinkled her nose, glaring into what looked like tequila. “We’re doing shots? I wanted a glass of wine and some nachos.”

“We don’t always get what we want,” Cristina said loudly, “just do it.”

Callie mumbled to herself before snatching up one of the shots and tossing it back. The burning sensation was oddly comforting after a really long day.

“See? This is how we forget about your women troubles,” Cristina mused, signalling the bartender to keep the beverages flowing. “Just like the old days, except now we’re both old maids.”

The absolute last thing Callie wanted to do was re-hash why she was sitting there tonight; there just didn’t seem to be an easy way around the subject. Misery loved company and it was safe to say that she and Cristina were both pretty miserable these days.

“Let’s talk about you instead,” she suggested in lieu of, staring straight into the mirror lining the bar’s back panel. “Piss anyone off today? You’re not exactly Mrs. Gung-Ho when it comes to getting plastered these days yourself.”

“That would be ‘Miss’ Gung-Ho. I’m divorced, remember?” Cristina replied. She split the fresh shot glasses between the two of them again. “And no, not really. My boss was just in an exceptionally crappy mood today, thanks to her personal life.” She fixed her sidekick with a pointed stare.

Callie found herself chuckling. “So we suffer together,” she mused. The next part of Cristina’s rant she missed, instead signalling the barkeep for a glass of whatever was on tap. If she stuck to the simple stuff, she was less likely to embarrass herself in front of her friends and her kid later tonight.

“She was off her rocker today,” Cristina elaborated, swivelling to face Callie when she wasn’t getting the type of response she was looking for. “Are you sure she’s not working for the underground mob or something? She jumps down your throat, she lights me on fire for stuff that’s not my fault, and she’s probably drawing up plans for Robbins’ death. Y’know, something to make it look like an accident. Slip of the scalpel.”

Callie snorted and raised a drink to her lips, choosing to not answer that last part. “Mob, huh?”

“It’s possible,” Cristina said airily, swallowing another shot of tequila and quickly sucking on a lime. “I’m considering transferring to another fellowship anyway. There’s an opening in Cleveland and they seem interested.”

Callie slammed the remaining shot glass hard enough on the table to slosh liquid everywhere - either because of Cristina’s announcement or the fact that whatever she had ordered was blue.

“What? No!” she protested, “you can’t just...just... _leave_.” Scowling, she tried to mop the spill up with a napkin. “I’m putting my foot down. No.”

“Well, what do you expect me to do?” Cristina argued. “I’m lucky if I get the freedom of a fourth year resident most days. She takes all the good surgeries for herself and only lets me scrub in if she can’t find an excuse not to. She won’t let me near this trial and she’s outright disrespectful with her attitude.” She stuffed a handful of bar almonds into her mouth. “I might be a robot but even robots can only handle so much crap. Cleveland is kissing my ass just to get me there.”

Callie hunched over her beer, sulking, and wondered what it would be like to lose yet another important person in her life. First Arizona, then Erica to a degree, and now Cristina. At this rate, even Sofia was bound to move her crib into Mark’s apartment and never talk to her again.

“She’s been kind of a nightmare since you had the kid,” Cristina added. “Not that it’s a great excuse or anything. Throw Robbins into the mix and you get Agent Orange.”

Callie glanced at Cristina dumbly. “I thought we came here to not talk about my girlfriends? _Friend_ ,” she quickly amended. Pregnancy and months of breastfeeding meant her tolerance for any kind of alcohol was at an all time low. A few measly shots of liquor, half a glass of beer and she was already feeling sleepy.

“What else do we have to talk about?” Cristina shrugged and sipped some water.

Callie buried her face in her hands and released a long, heavy sigh. Being continually frustrated with the state of her life was exhausting. She was so sick of fighting with everyone when all she wanted to do was enjoy being a mom and kick some ass at her job.

After a minute or so, she lifted her head again and took a few more gulps of beer. “I need a vacation. Just me, Sofia and her Diaper Genie on an island somewhere.”

“You need to get laid,” Cristina stated, making Callie grunt. “It’s gross, but you’re happier and less mopey when you’re sleeping with Hahn.” She started building a pyramid with the empty glasses littering the table in front of them. “When is the last time you guys - y’know - knocked boots or whatever it is two chicks do?”

“How old is Sofia?” Callie mumbled unhappily into her beer.

“Seriously? That long?” Cristina knocked the pile over and emitted a low whistle as they scattered. “God, I would explode. At least that explains some of why she’s so uptight. And why you’re just about ready to hop on the Robbins train thirty seconds after she got here.”

“I was not,” Callie snapped, deciding on a whim to drink the blue thing Cristina ordered anyway. “We tried it maybe twice, Erica and I, but we work all the time, and then there’s Sofia. It just hasn’t really...worked. I mean ‘it’-it works,” she said hurriedly, “just not ‘it’ as in the ‘us’ part of...it.” Callie scrunched her forehead and tried that sentence again in her head.

“Tell me again how that’s the sign of a healthy relationship?”

“You and Owen were banging like monkeys and now you’re divorced,” Callie snapped.

“Point Torres.” Shifting her posture, Cristina slumped over the bar and settled her elbows in a pile of crumbs. “I guess we both need to get laid.”

Callie made it to the bottom of her beer glass and miserably pushed it away. “For the first few months I was up every two hours with Sofia. Erica didn’t even sleep over then, and now if she stays at the apartment, that’s literally all we do, sleep. We occasionally pass each on the way to the coffee machine in the morning, but otherwise we’re on autopilot. We weren’t like this before.”

“I should hire you a hooker,” Cristina suggested, licking salt from her hand and proceeding with another shot. “They have lesbian versions, right?”

Callie dropped her head sideways, incredulous. “ _Really?_ ”

“What?” Cristina looked miffed. “It’s an option. Some girls might like that sort of thing.”

“And you would know this because of personal experience?”

“Many have tried,” Cristina brushed off.

Callie could only laugh. “Sometimes I wonder if Meredith even knows this side of you.”

“Meredith knows all sides of me. Why do you think she moved?”

For all the cheering up tonight was supposed to accomplish, by now Callie was feeling pretty low. She couldn’t think about anything other than Erica or Arizona and their disagreement. Memories of how much she loved being with Erica in the beginning were muddled with current ones of tension and uncertainty. Her mental faculties were starting to take a hit thanks to Cristina’s active wallet and a fully-stocked delivery day for the establishment. The conversation drifted around Callie’s abysmal love life, to Cristina’s, to work, and somehow circled back to the same two women responsible for her needing to be here. An hour later and they weren’t any closer to finding her a solution.

“The way I see it, you have three choices,” Cristina slurred, staring into her drink as though it held the answers to the universe. “One, you can put aside your mutual distaste for one another and sleep with the Ice Queen. Maybe getting laid will bring back the magic. Two,” she continued before Callie could interrupt, “you can forgo the Ice Queen and sleep with Roller Girl, because clearly you two have a lot of unresolved sexual tension. Or three-” She finished another shot. “Three, the lesbian hooker thing. Take your pick. Whatever way you look at it, you gotta get laid, Torres. Before your lady parts dry up and nobody wants to go in.”

“Thank you for putting that so eloquently,” Callie quipped, tracing a finger around the rim of her glass. “God, I used to be good at flirting, I was good at being in relationships. Put the two together and I was golden. Now I’m dried up and old and my girlfriend would rather work with you all day than have sex with me.”

“Thanks. That makes me feel really good about my role in the whole thing.”

Callie kept talking. “Erica and I had really good sex when we started up again. I mean I was getting bigger with Sofia, but still, we made it work.”

Cristina fired a silent prayer to whatever gods were listening to drop a pair of earplugs from the sky. The last thing she wanted to hear about on her night off was her ex-roommate and mentor getting it on - especially when her own divorced ass wasn’t getting any.

“Arizona and I had really fantastic sex, too,” Callie sighed, staring blankly at the wall and talking to herself as much as the person next to her. “I hadn’t thought about it in a while, probably because pushing a baby out of my vagina wasn’t really a picnic, but now that she’s here…”

“Oh god,” Cristina groaned. It went unnoticed.

“...and I keep thinking, she’s still really, really pretty, right?” Callie added. “Which makes me realize I’m an ass for even thinking about her, because I have a girlfriend who I wanted to spend the rest of my life with, only now she doesn't want anything to do with _my_ pretty parts. It sucks.”

Cristina mimicked hanging herself with an invisible rope. Callie was oblivious to all of it, so rather than respond, she stared at the bottles lining Joe’s shelves and wondered how much it would cost to empty them all. If this conversation went on much longer, she was likely to clean him out before the end of the night. “Why are you still with Hahn if it’s _that_ bad?” she did ask, pushing another glass of the glowing blue substance under Callie’s nose.

Callie didn’t have the heart to voice the doubts that had been percolating in her own head as of late. “It wasn’t always,” she said. “I keep thinking that it won’t be like this forever, that we’ll get our rhythm back. Maybe all we have to do is try harder.”

“So cut Robbins out of the picture,” Cristina countered. “Simplify things. Work on your thing with Hahn and don’t invite drama into the mix.”

Callie groaned and gave her face a hard rub. “I don’t know anymore. I want be on good terms with Arizona too, only for some stupid reason I’m screwing up both relationships. Yay me.”

“You’re terrible at other people, Torres.”

“Tell me about it.”

“To being better suited for Hermit-om than social interaction,” Cristina toasted, clinking shot glasses with Callie.

“Amen.” Callie threw caution to the wind and drank the radioactive waste.

Cristina was immensely glad she wasn’t in her ex-roommate’s predicament, especially not with the two particular people this conversation revolved around. “Throw them in the same room and let ‘em hem rip each other’s hair out.”

“Hell no,” Callie said with a bark of laughter, raising another beer glass to her lips only to pause. “Actually, that might be kinda hot.”

Cristina decided to let that one slide out of the kindness of her heart - and so she didn’t have the mental image seared into her brain. “Just tell Hahn you’re hanging out with Robbins and if she doesn’t like it, tough. She should trust you, and if you don’t trust _yourself_ , then be honest with her. Maybe you’re not meant to be together if things are this hard.”

Callie looked at Cristina like she had grown a third eyeball. “Since when did you get all deep and insightful?”

“Oh I don’t know, I’m drunk, leave me alone,” Cristina said dismissively, slamming her glass down on the counter. Somehow she was in better shape than Callie, whose eyes were starting to droop. “Screw ‘em all, only not literally. Unless it’s your birthday hooker, then you can have ‘at-er.”

Callie froze. There was one too many mentions of said hooker for her liking. This wasn’t an idea she wanted Cristina to remember come morning; certainly not in a few weeks when her birthday rolled around. “Please tell me you did not order a hooker for my birthday?” she asked uneasily. “If you want to be crude, buy me a boob cake. No hookers.” She snaked Cristina’s water glass away and stole an ice cube floating along the top. “Ooh, and chocolate - not vanilla.”

Cristina looked confused. “The hooker or the cake?”

“The cake, Cristina.”

The conversation migrated to viable options for Callie’s birthday bash in a month’s time. They discussed various ways to get rip-roaringly drunk and justify it given that they were both in their mid-thirties. Callie made it clear that anyone attempting a surprise party would find themselves missing limbs.

“You know what you need?” Cristina asked out of the blue. A wasteland of empty, deserted shot glasses littered the counter in front of them.

Callie grunted in response, eyelids were drooping as she was on the brink of letting herself take a nap in public. “A hooker?” she mused, raising her head just enough to drink some water.

“No, not a hooker,” Cristina said. “You need to dance it out before you explode from all of that pent up sexual frustration.

Callie grunted again and barely moved. “I don’t feel like dancing. Or moving. Or being awake.”

Cristina’s scowl grew more pronounced. “You _always_ want to dance,” she urged. “Even back when we were roommates, I used to have to pry you off of the dance floor. Come on, you didn’t want to come out with me tonight either and now look at you. You’re sulking on a bar stool, it’s pathetic.”

There wasn’t any room for arguing when Callie felt this drunk. Dancing would lead to a disastrous reliving of her first hangover at age seventeen, back in Florida. The only difference now was that she had an actual tiny human to look after, something that filled her belly with dread as she slid from her stool. “I better head out. Mark and Julia are gonna register her for pre-school by the time I crawl up the stairs. But thanks, Yang, you’re a good friend. Mostly.”

Cristina watched as Callie missed patting her on the shoulder, instead stroking thin air about a foot to her left. “Wow. You’re going to take care of a baby tonight?” she asked skeptically.

Callie already knew she was going to pay a hefty price in the morning but right now that was the least of her worries. The utter lack of tolerance she had these days, mixed with a few of those weird blue shot things Cristina kept feeding her, left her brains in a scrambled mess. The reality that she had majorly underestimated her ability to handle herself tonight was starting to sink in.

“Oh, crap,” she grumbled, leaning heavily into the bar. “This is your fault.”

Cristina started to smirk, unafraid. “As godmother to your spawn, I declare myself helpful, unless it involves crappy diapers, because those I will not touch. Also, I’m gonna stay on your couch, ‘cause your apartment is closer and no kid should stay at Sloan’s overnight. Okay?”

Callie wasn’t in any shape to argue. At this point she would need the extra set of hands.

She let Cristina grab her by the shoulders and shove her in the right direction, cursing when they both rebounded off the door frame and stumbled into the street.

***

Somehow, in the short walk between Joe’s bar and the apartment, Cristina just about sobered up while Callie had a harder time walking in a straight line. She felt slightly nauseous, though it probably had more to do with shame. What was supposed to be one drink had turned into several and the effects were magnified by her lower-than-average tolerance. Callie was drunk and felt like an irresponsible idiot because of it.

Also, she really had to pee.

It was Cristina who found the necessary keys to get inside, Cristina who flung the door open, and Cristina who guided her very drunk, very woozy self through the living room and into her bedroom. She dumped Callie’s limp body on the bed and stepped back to survey the scene.

Callie rolled on her back, emitting a low, pathetic moan. “Ow.”

Cristina’s mouth twitched but she kept any snide comments to herself. “Change, puke and brush your teeth - not necessarily in that order. I’ll go grab Sofia from Mark’s,” she relayed to the motionless lump. “Or don’t move, whatever works for you.”

Callie grunted noncommittally and listened to Cristina’s footsteps move away. She stayed put for a good ten seconds before heaving herself from the mattress and zombie-shuffling towards the bathroom. It was now or never, and she really didn’t fancy going to bed without her teeth brushed or bladder emptied.

If there was one thing she could be glad of, it was that she hadn’t consumed enough to be sick. Those days were long gone and even depressed and lonely Callie knew better than to shirk her responsibilities. She brushed her teeth, washed her face, stripped down and padded into the bedroom to change without incident.

After pulling a t-shirt on backwards - twice - she shuffled into the main room just as Cristina returned with Sofia. “Hey, baby girl,” she murmured, smiling dopily and following her old roommate into the nursery. Sofia yawned and blinked curiously over Cristina’s shoulder at her mother.

“Da!”

“I think she’s calling you Daddy,” Cristina said wryly.

“Nah, that’s just her way of shaming her idiot mother for dumping her off at a friend’s,” Callie sighed. She brushed a hand across Sofia’s fuzzy head.

“Time for bed,” Cristina said to the baby, holding her out to Callie for a sloppy kiss before depositing her in the crib. She was already changed and in a onesie thanks to Julia. “For all of us. I’m sleeping on your couch tonight because you both need a babysitter.”

Callie had to close her eyes to keep the world from spinning as she leaned heavily into the door frame. “Some mom I am,” she exhaled, defeated. “I feel like a big ball of crap.”

Cristina, surprisingly, waved her off. “Stop with the pity party, so you’ve had a bad night,” she argued, though it was clear Callie didn’t buy it. “Look, you are a great mom, okay? You’ve turned your life upside-down and inside-out to care for that little chubby monkey in there. You’re going through a rough patch, you’re allowed to have a night to yourself.”

“You can’t have nights off when you’re a parent, it doesn’t work like that,” Callie berated, pinching the bridge of her nose as her stomach twisted into a ball.

Cristina ground her teeth together as she ushered Callie from the nursery and stood in the doorway. “I’m here, okay? She’s going to be fine.”

“But-”

“I’ve taken care of an infant before. No one died.”

That was true, Callie thought. It didn’t make her hesitate any less.

“Go lie down before you pass out and I have to drag your lifeless body back to bed,” Cristina barked, jabbing a finger into her chest. “You’re ten feet tall and I’m a twig.”

Callie met Cristina’s expression and ended up smiling. “Thanks,” she said quietly, especially grateful to her in that moment. With one last kiss blown in Sofia’s direction, Callie lumbered across the apartment to her bedroom. The world was spinning slow enough that she knew she only had about thirty seconds of stamina remaining.

Cristina shook her head and looked back at the baby, who was staring at her through the bars of her crib. “No puking, no pooping, and no food until morning. You already ate. Do we understand each other?”

Sofia blinked serenely and let out a big yawn. “Ma.”

“Good.” Cristina turned off the lights and settled the baby in, wondering vaguely if she would regret this decision come morning.

***

If there was one thing Callie had learned in her thirty-five years on this planet, it was that she was _way_ too old to handle hangovers with any sort of dignity.

It was all she could do to shower without crumbling into a weepy mess on the bathroom floor at seven in the morning, which didn’t exactly bode well for rounds in a few hours. The idea of leaving the bedroom to face the world was horrendous. Unfortunately, lying in bed all day wasn’t an option when she had a baby depending on her - a baby she had essentially left with Cristina Yang for almost seven hours now. That alone was enough to force Callie out of bed, eyes puffy and bloodshot.

The sound of slippers rubbing against carpet made Cristina look up from where she was feeding Sofia in her highchair. She cracked a grin at Callie’s dishevelled appearance. “Looks like mommy had a rough night,” she teased, ignoring Sofia as the baby tried repeatedly to get at the applesauce spoon her Godmother was holding just out of reach.

Callie stopped in her tracks, pressing her fingertips to her temples. Her head was pounding; she didn’t even attempt to respond to Cristina’s statement, opting for a drawn-out moan instead. “Coffee.”

“Already made,” Cristina declared, refocusing on feeding the miniature version of her friend. The lack of applesauce and Cheerios strewn around the kitchen was shocking.

Callie changed direction and shuffled to the coffee pot. “Since when did you become Susie Homemaker?” she asked in a raspy voice, pouring herself a fresh cup. The aroma itself stirred something in her brain and she was able to bring Cristina and Sofia into focus. That was a start.

“I believe the words you’re looking for are ‘thank you’,” Cristina said, turning the spoonful of applesauce she was holding into an airplane and directing it to Sofia’s eager mouth.

Callie set the coffee pot on the counter and took a long sip before the scene unfolding in front of her fully registered. Cristina Yang was awake before eight in the morning. Not only was she awake, she was feeding Sofia, who was already cleaned up, in her day clothes and ready for daycare. She even had a bib fastened around her neck. Callie almost choked on her coffee in surprise.

Cristina quickly glanced over her shoulder as Callie cleared coffee from her lungs. “Don’t die on me, I can’t do this for more than one day in a row,” she said, completely serious, turning around to wipe errant applesauce that had missed Sofia’s mouth altogether.

Callie watched her former roommate like she was a chimpanzee using tools for the first time. It was quite remarkable. She made a mental note to consider Cristina as an emergency babysitter someday, even if she still wasn’t at the top of the list.

Smirking at how bizarre this morning was shaping up to be, Callie shuffled closer and plopped a loving kiss on Sofia’s forehead. “Morning, baby,” she cooed, emitting a pitiful groan as her head throbbed. “I am never doing last night again.”

“Did you get all the girlfriend rage out of your system?” Cristina asked, sticking a spoonful of applesauce in Sofia’s mouth before grabbing an open box of Cheerios from the counter. “Has Ice Queen called yet?”

Callie’s amusement faded. It was too early and her brain was throbbing at too high of a rate to think. “I haven’t even had coffee yet, don’t start on that again,” she grumbled, sinking into the chair next to Sofia’s highchair, grumpily propping her elbow on the table.

“Quit whining, you’ve been through worse than this,” Cristina argued. “Do I need to run down the list for you again?” She was saved from having to do exactly that when Callie took a wayward smack from Sofia’s waving fist.

Callie scrunched her nose and eased her daughter’s arm away before it could aim at her face a second time. “I don’t want to work today,” she moaned into her coffee mug.

Sofia looked curiously at her mother, stretching out a chubby arm and grasping a fist in the air, as though trying to tug on her hair. She let out a string of baby babbles, kicking her feet impatiently in her highchair before emitting a high-pitched squeal.

Callie’s hackles rose and her brain started to leak. “Oh, sweetie, please no,” she groaned, reaching over again to distract Sofia. “Mommy’s head hurts. It’s quiet time now. Yay quiet time, remember?”

While Sofia stared crossly at her mother, Cristina took a moment to forage through Callie’s food cupboard in search of their own breakfast. Without warning, a torrent of pasta boxes and soup cans rained down around her, rebounding off of every surface and crushing several of her toes in the process. Cringing and with a mountain of food settling noisily at her feet, she watched Callie take on the appearance of someone about to throw up.

“Oops. Sorry.”

Callie’s complexion had greened significantly and she mashed her palms into the side of her face, much like one trying to suffocate a ringing bell. It took a moment before she looked up again, leveling a furious glare at Cristina that made her hastily start to clean up the mess.

“If you kill me, I have a witness,” Cristina said, gesturing at Sofia. “What kind of lesson would that be teaching her?”

“That people with hangovers are not to be messed with,” Callie snarled, though the nausea was preventing her from following through.

Luckily for Cristina, dismemberment took a backseat to someone knocking on the front door. “Is Mrs. Feinstein still living downstairs?” she asked, referencing the elderly woman with a complete intolerance for noise. Even for her, this had to be record timing.

“Callie?” came a different yet equally familiar voice muffled in the hallway.

Erica was the last person Callie expected to show up this early in the morning. “Crap,” she hissed under her breath, shooting a feverish glance at Cristina. “Go in the guest room and shut the door.”

Cristina, who was busy juggling boxes of cereal in her arms, paused on her way to the cupboard. “Why, is she gonna think we had the lesbian sex or something? I’m not even sure how that stuff works.”

“Just do it!” Callie snapped, flapping a hand at Sofia’s nursery. “She’s already pissed off at me, I don’t need you beaking off and making things worse.”

Cristina rolled her eyes dramatically and she stepped over the pile of soup cans still scattered over the floor. “Fine, but no angry make-up sex while I’m in there, you got me? Even if you need to get laid, do it on your own time when it won’t scar me for life.”

Callie practically ran over and shut the door in Cristina’s face. “Stay in there and be quiet!” With a forced sense of calm, she then scurried to the front door, calling out a pleasant, “Just a second!” along the way.

When she was sure her face looked the least amount of hungover she could arrange it to, Callie yanked open the door. “Erica, hi.”

Erica looked just as awkward as Callie felt, shifting her belongings over one shoulder and offering Callie a weak smile. “Hey.”

Callie desperately tried to hide the newest wave of nausea washing through her system. “Hey,” she echoed, aware they were already repeating themselves. “What are you, um…? I mean, I wasn’t expecting you to…”

Erica licked her lips and nodded to the living room. “Can I come in? Or would you rather stand out in the hall in your pajamas?” Callie blushed and stepped back, and Erica gingerly stepped inside.

Neither of them seemed keen to make eye contact, so Erica glanced around the living room for the easiest topic available. “Is Sofia awake?”

“More so than me,” Callie mused, nodding to the kitchen.

Sofia emitted another piercing squeak and Erica walked over to her, missing the pained expression crossing Callie’s face. “Hi, kiddo,” she smiled, right away noticing the mess covering most of the floor. “Had a tantrum, did we?”

Callie followed Erica into the kitchen and hurriedly swiped away the most precariously placed soup cans and cracker boxers. “Yeah, well, y’know me. Klutzy-klutzy,” she laughed nervously.

Erica set her purse on the counter. “Need some help?”

Callie shook her head and dumped everything she had grabbed into the kitchen sink, to be dealt with later. “Nah, that’s okay. Can I get you something? Coffee? Toast?” _A handbook for how to get through this awkward conversation?_ she added silently to herself.

“No. I’m not staying long.” Erica folder her arms, then thought better and replaced them by her sides. “I’ve got to get to the hospital, but I wanted us to talk first.” She ran her hand gently across Sofia’s head; Sofia giggled and stuffed a Cheerio up her nose, which Erica quickly plucked away.

Callie waited for her to elaborate, not wanting to step in and extract the information from Erica herself. Whatever she had come to say, Callie planned to just sit back and listen. In the meantime, the silence gave her a chance to stuff down some of the pain trying to weld itself to the inside of her skull.

Erica finally sorted her thoughts and looked up to meet Callie’s weary gaze. “Look, I have a problem with Robbins.”

Callie bit her tongue and just barely kept from retorting.

“I don’t just mean your history together,” Erica went on. “Having her come here and take on this patient when I’ve been advocating to get on that trial for months is a real slap in the face from Richard. She’s younger and less experienced, and she is not a cardiothoracic surgeon. She refuses to acknowledge that an experimental procedure like this on a child is extremely risky and more likely to do harm than good.”

It was news to Callie that Erica had wanted in on this clinical trial before it came to Seattle in the first place. She opened her mouth to say something but Erica raised a hand to silence her. Taking the hint, Callie kept her thoughts to herself.

Erica rushed to continue before either of them had the chance to get defensive. “That aside, no, it’s not easy for me knowing you two were involved, especially to the extent you were. Add the two scenarios together and maybe you can see where I’m coming from.”

She paused again to gather her thoughts, brow furrowed as she searched for the right words. “I don’t appreciate you lying to me, Callie. It’s not okay for you to say one thing to my face and then go sneaking around with her behind my back. I’m sorry for the argument, but I’m not sorry for being offended you would take me for stupid.”

Callie exhaled loudly, feeling some of the dread release. Guilt came flooding in to replace it almost immediately. “No, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have lied to you,” she admitted, running her fingers through her hair. “This whole thing just kind of came out of nowhere and caught me off guard. It’s not a good excuse, I handled it badly. Really badly,” she added, letting her shoulders sag. “I’m sorry I lied. I’m an assh- d’um, jerkface,” she corrected with a quick glance at Sofia. Erica chuckled, allowing Callie’s relief to finally settled in as she realized the worst part was over. She extended a hand; Erica squeezed it.

“I do want to be completely honest with you about one thing, though,” Callie hedged after the peaceful exchange. She needed to say this now or risk the same thing happening a second or third time in the coming weeks. “Arizona is going to be around the hospital a lot and yes, there is a part of me that wants to be friends. We’re adults and I’m not going to duck into on-call rooms and supply closets to avoid her whenever we’re in the same place.” She waited for Erica to digest this. “Is that something you can be okay with?”

To Callie’s surprise, Erica managed to smile and make it seem genuine. “Yes, of course, Callie. I wouldn’t expect you to avoid her, despite my accusations last night.” She laced their fingers and squeezed her girlfriend’s hand. “I trust you and I promise I’ll do my best to get along with the know-it-all as long as she’s here.”

Callie lifted an eyebrow.

Erica had to roll her eyes. “With Dr. Robbins,” she corrected, albeit begrudgingly.

A grin tugged at Callie’s mouth. “Okay then, so...we’re good?” she asked tentatively, taking a step forward.

“We’re good,” Erica echoed, leaning in to give Callie a quick peck on the lips. “I hate to run, but I’ve got back to back surgeries this morning and then a few consults. And I’ll probably have to sit down with...Dr. Robbins.” It was an effort to say her name without seeming sour about it. “I’ll see you later?”

“Definitely,” Callie agreed, watching Erica bend over to give Sofia quick a kiss.

“Bye munchkin,” Erica said softly before Callie walked her to the door. “I’ll call you later.”

“Okay,” Callie smiled. Erica gave her another kiss before sweeping into the hallway, and Callie slowly closed the door, turning around and leaning against it.

Now that Erica was gone, she replayed the conversation in her mind. It was weird, she expected more venom and accusations to be flung back and forth. Erica coming to apologize almost _never_ happened, not unless she-

Cristina chose that moment to unceremoniously fling open the nursery door; Callie, who had forgotten that Cristina was even in the apartment, spooked. “God! Do you ever do anything quietly?” she demanded, willing her heart to slow down.

Cristina immediately returned to start shoving boxes of crap in the cupboard, as though the interruption had never happened. “You want me to pretend I wasn’t eavesdropping or should I point out the obvious?”

Callie shifted her weight. “What does that mean?”

“She’s jealous.” Perched on her toes, stretching to shove a box on the top shelf, Cristina glanced over her shoulder. “And she thinks if she’s nicer about it, you won’t go running back to Roller Girl the next time you two get into it.”

Callie’s expression hardened and she shot Cristina a nasty glare. “Okay, unlike some people in this room, an apology is just an apology.”

“She’s jealous,” Cristina lamented, speaking as though Callie were incredibly stupid for not figuring this out on her own. “You’re just afraid of more conflict so you don’t want to see it. Trust me, she’s my boss, I know her better than you do. Hahn does the same thing with Webber or the Board; if she’s afraid of getting overruled, she’ll play nice and get the ball back in her court.”

“The same could be said for every single surgeon in that building,” Callie pointed out. “Erica’s not than vindictive. She forgave me for being a lying idiot, so I can forgive her for making me feel bad about it.” Even as the words left her mouth, Callie frowned at her lack of rationale.

Cristina didn’t care enough to argue, and at that moment, she smelled something that gave her the perfect excuse to leave. “And on that note, your mini me has pooped.”

Callie, despite her irritation, smiled. “Let me guess, you’re taking off?”

“She’s eaten and burped more times than any human that size should, so my work here is done,” Cristina affirmed. “Besides, I need to get home and shower before going back to work, because apparently that’s all I ever do, and yet my boss remains ungrateful.” Grabbing her bag and coat from the couch, Cristina rushed for the exit before diaper duty became a thing.

Callie nodded, her mind already spiralling down the rabbit hole it had been trapped in since last night. “Yeah, I’ll see you later. And Cristina,” she called out, waiting for her old roommate to pause in the open doorway. “Thank you,” she said quietly, “really.”

Cristina’s grin was slightly less mocking than usual. “Any time.”

***

The sharp chirp of The Archfield’s landline startled Arizona out of a deep sleep around eight o’clock that morning. Clinical trial papers lay scattered across the bed and several had spilled onto the floor; more crinkled beneath her body as she sat up, still dressed in yesterday’s clothes. A pair of reading glasses slipped sideways down her nose, obscuring her vision, but not enough to hide the embarrassing puddle of drool staining her pillow.

It was a few seconds before she realized the reason for the abrupt awakening and dove across the bed to get grapple with the phone. “Hello?”

There was a loud crackle, followed by three or four seconds of silence. “Arizona?”

Arizona blinked sleepily, pulling off her glasses and rubbing her eyes. “Speaking.”

A soft chuckle greeted her ears. “I know we haven’t seen each other in a while but I’m a little insulted.”

The voice clicked all of a sudden and Arizona abruptly sat up. “Teddy?”

Teddy was laughing. “Is this a bad time?”

“No,” Arizona said earnestly as she threw back the covers and stumbled out of bed. “Sorry, I was up all night pouring over a ridiculous amount of paperwork and just woke up covered in drool and yesterday’s clothes. I’m kind of a mess right now.”

She padded to the dresser and pulled out a sweater, stretching the phone cord as far as possible while she pulled it on. “I’m glad you got my email. Does that mean you’re back in civilization, or are you still set up in some super-secret location?”

“We’re back at base now,” Teddy replied. “It’s dinner time here. I throttled two men and one diplomat to use the phone first. What time is it in Seattle, anyway?”

Even though she had a clock beside the bed, Arizona automatically glanced out the window. “The sun is barely coming up,” she said, getting back into bed and scooting up against the headboard.

“How are things in Seattle?” Teddy asked. “I can’t believe how long it’s been. It must be weird going back after all this time.”

Arizona chewed on her bottom lip, thinking about the fight she’d had with Callie. “It’s been...interesting to say the least. Not what I expected.”

A patient sigh filtered through the line. “‘Interesting’ is your way of saying terrible without wanting to worry anyone. Spill it, Robbins.”

The last thing Arizona felt like doing was thinking about Callie right now. “Isn’t your dinner getting cold?” she hedged. “Or do you need to go sharpen your knives, or pack your bullets or something army-like?”

“Pack my bullets?” Teddy echoed. “Come on, tell me what happened with Torres. I’m not leaving this conversation until I hear all the dirt. I live in a desert surrounded by men, throw me a bone here.”

Arizona scowled into the phone. “Who said it has anything to do with Callie?”

“Who else would it be? You never got worked up over your multitude of short-term girlfriends like you did with Torres.”

“There was no ‘multitude’,” Arizona whined, pouting. Teddy had a point, though. She had never been one for creating drama, somehow it just seemed to find her and her ex. Three years hadn’t changed much.

Teddy kept pushing. “When I ended things with Andrew, you adopted me into your clinic for a month just so I could take my mind off of things. I owe you a whole slew of long stories in return for all the ranting I did while we vaccinated orphans.”

Arizona snorted loudly and closed her eyes, resigned. “Everything about coming back here has been weird. I knew it would be but it’s only been a couple of days and I’m already at the end of my rope.”

“Callie still with Hahn?” Teddy asked hesitantly.

“She is, but that’s not really the issue,” Arizona sighed. “She has a kid now, by the way.”

“No way,” Teddy blurted. “She and Hahn had a _baby_?”

“Technically no, Callie had a baby and she’s been seeing Erica for a year.” The corner of Arizona’s mouth twitched into a half grin. “The kid’s cute. Her name is Sofia. She looks just like Callie.”

Teddy didn’t say anything yet.

“Anyway, we had a really nice breakfast together,” Arizona continued. “We talked for a few hours, catching up about her and her daughter and work and the clinic. I thought things were going better and it wouldn’t be so bad for the next couple of weeks, only it turns out Callie lied to Erica about us meeting up. Hahn flew off the handle and now working with her is going to be a nightmare. Not that it was a picnic to begin with,” she added. “Hahn thinks I’m paving over her territory with a supermall or something. I guess Chief Webber didn’t give her any choice in the trial and my involvement with her patient.”

“Ouch,” Teddy replied. “Sounds like you’re off to a rough start.”

“You have no idea,” Arizona mumbled into the phone. “Callie doesn’t seem to understand why I’m just as upset as Erica. I have to work with her and she’s already unhappy about it, so factor in supposed ‘secret meetings’ with her girlfriend, and…”

Teddy cringed on her behalf. “Maybe it’ll just take everyone a couple of days to settle in and get on with their lives?”

“The last time Callie and I spoke, we tore each other a new one,” Arizona said, closing her eyes again. “I’m pretty sure she doesn’t want anything to do with me. Quite frankly, I’m not too sure I want to re-open that can of napalm.”

There was silence on the other end of the line and Arizona started to wonder if they had been cut off. Background noise told her otherwise and she fidgeted while waiting for her best friend to bring clarity to the situation - advice she was taking her sweet time in conjuring up.

When Teddy still didn’t say anything after a dozen or so seconds, Arizona cracked. “Okay, this is the part where you deliver your sage advice and tell me what to do.”

“I don’t even know where to start,” Teddy said with a short laugh. “You have a knack for getting yourself in deep, early.”

Arizona groaned and beat her head against the wall. “Not helping.”

“I mean, she’s got a kid,” Teddy said, “with Hahn, sort of, and you’re working with Hahn, and you’re Callie’s ex, and it got complicated and messy towards the end. Maybe staying in your own little world isn’t such a bad idea while you’re in town.”

“And I’m on board with that,” Arizona said earnestly, “except I could be stuck here for a few months. What am I supposed to do, avoid breathing the same air as Callie? It’s not like I can avoid Hahn when she’s the physician of my patient.”

“Just go about your day and if you run into Torres, you run into her,” Teddy suggested. “Let the fight roll off your shoulders, it won’t do anyone any good to keep harping on it. She messed up, so move on and hope it doesn’t happen again. Hahn can deal with your presence and you can finish up with your trial and go home.” 

Sometimes the simplest answer eluded Arizona, even if it was the most sane and logical one. “Yeah, maybe…”

“What does Gwen think about all this?” Teddy continued. “Y’know, the whole you being back at work with your ex and one-time love of your life. I can’t imagine she’s puking rainbows over the situation.” The line went dead silent again. That said more to Teddy than words ever could have. “You didn’t tell her about Callie, did you?”

“She knows that I had a serious girlfriend when I lived here,” Arizona allowed, speaking slowly so as not to get herself into trouble. “When I left I told her I didn’t even know if Callie was still around.”

Teddy sighed patiently into the phone. “Arizona...”

“‘It was true!” Arizona argued. “I had no idea if she was one-hundred-percent for sure still at Seattle Grace. And besides, that was three years ago, it’s not like it’s a big deal or anything. Rehashing old relationship crap with new girlfriends always ends in flames, read the lesbian handbook of drama for reference.”

To her credit, Teddy didn’t beat her over the head with the inconsistencies in her logic. “Is she okay with not seeing your for a few months while you’re across the country working with your ex?”

“One, I’m not working with Callie,” Arizona said sharply, “and two, we’re not even...our relationship isn’t...it’s complicated, okay?”

“Is that what your Facebook page says?”

“Shut up,” Arizona grumbled. “She’s busy being a lawyer and I’m busy being a doctor. We’re...seeing each other without any pressure. That’s not exactly the point and time to reopen the book on my past life and tell her about how much damage the break-up with Callie did. It’s not worth rehashing the details.”

“You’re happy with her though, right?”

The nano-second pause before Arizona answered was missed by both of them. “She’s the first person I’ve really dated since Callie. Malawi wasn’t exactly a hotbed of lesbian activity, being illegal and all. We like each other a lot.”

Teddy’s laughter rang through crisp and clear. “I’m sure your spiral of hot but crazy women while state-side kept the sheets warm for a few months.”

“There was not a multitude of women,” Arizona snapped for the second time in the conversation. “And you’re one to talk, missy. Do you remember Gabriel, the tall, dark and gorgeous OB you schmoozed all over for the month you stayed with me?”

“How could I forget,” Teddy sighed happily. “God, that was nice.”

It was Arizona’s turn to giggle; she really missed having Teddy around to be so candid with. “Anyway, enough about me and my problems. What’s new with you?”

Teddy shuffled something around on the other end of the line and the background got quieter when she moved into a different room. “I called to let you know that I’ve got a few weeks of leave coming up and I wanted to know if I should fly out to Seattle.”

“Oh my god!” Arizona sat up so fast she popped her neck. “Yes! You have to come here! _Please_ come here!”

The sheer enthusiasm had Teddy grinning from ear to ear. “Cool, I’ll let you know the dates when I’ve figured everything out. It could be anywhere from a couple of weeks or more from now.”

Plans for all kinds of epic adventures were already shooting through Arizona’s mind like a slideshow on fast-forward. “We need to have a girls night again, it’s been ages.”

There was excitement in Teddy’s voice, too. “I haven’t even stepped foot in an airport and you’re already planning on getting me drunk? Aren’t we too old and wise for that?”

“You have no tolerance anymore, two glasses of wine with dinner and you’re hammered,” Arizona beamed. “Besides-”

The screen on her cell phone lit up, alerting Arizona to its presence for the first time. She reached across the bed and fished it out from a crevasse of sheets, then flipped it around to stare at the call display. Gwen’s name and a short message blinked up at her.

“Arizona?”

Arizona blinked and swiped her thumb across the lock screen while she tried to talk. “Yeah, sorry, I’m here.”

_I know you’re out there kicking ass and saving babies, but I miss you. Call me later. -- G_

Something akin to butterflies erupted in Arizona’s stomach, only they spread guilt instead of happiness. She had barely given any thought to her sort-of girlfriend in the few days since being in Seattle and only texted Gwen once since the first night. The crazy scheduling of her presentations and meetings had taken up all of her time and it genuinely had it slipped her mind, but that didn’t stop her from feeling bad about it.

“Robbins!” Teddy barked a second time.

Arizona jumped and hurriedly set the phone down. “Sorry! Sorry. What?”

“Am I boring you?” Teddy smirked, lifting a brow even though nobody could see her.

“No,” Arizona said, squeezing her eyes shut. “Sorry, I just got another message on my cell. From Gwen. She wants me to call her later.”

Teddy’s smirk grew and it was audible. “Ooh,” she drawled.

“‘Oh’ what?” Arizona asked, perhaps more sharply than necessary. “I will call her, just not until tonight. I need to get my ass in gear and get back to the hospital. She knows that, we talked about how busy I’d be when I left Baltimore.”

Teddy let her head drop in defeat, sighing heavily into the receiver. “Oh, honey,” she started. “Your nights consist of you sitting in your hotel room alone, watching romantic comedies and eating a gallon of ice cream, don’t they?”

“What?” Arizona demanded. “No! I’m spending all my waking hours at work, genius. There is no conspiracy here.”

“Fine, fine,” Teddy relented, choosing to back off for now.

“Besides, I have enough involuntary girl drama for now, thank you very much,” Arizona said hotly. “I still don’t know how I’m supposed to sort out this Callie situation. I’m really pissed at her for putting me in this position with Hahn.” The exasperation and accompanying stress ball in her stomach were only too familiar.

“She is still the only person on this planet who can make me that angry,” Arizona added after a moment. “Which usually means I care too much for my own good.”

“Introspective and deep. Thank you for acknowledging it so I don’t have to point it out to you myself.”

Discussing Callie was starting to head in a direction that Arizona just didn’t want to go in. She decided to change the subject, even if it was as subtle as a freight train. “This is the part where I politely decline any further talk about certain people and ask you about your life instead,” she pushed. “Are you being careful out there? And is there enough man-candy to keep you satisfied in the no-touching kind of way until you get back?”

“They’re smelly. And sweaty,” Teddy answered. “Army boys aren’t really my type. I can’t wait to come back for a few weeks, I haven’t seen a clean-cut, showered man in _so_ long.” Arizona started giggling and Teddy smiled nostalgically. “I miss the smell of cologne, or even aftershave. I miss no facial hair. No one shaves around here. And I just - I lost you with the icky boy talk, didn’t I?”

“Hell no,” Arizona grinned. “Are you kidding? I am officially making it my mission to get you laid while you’re on leave.” She perked up despite the noise of protest from Teddy. “You will not leave American soil again until a clean shaven, non-sweaty, muscular man has seen you naked, so help me god.”

“You’re taking ‘patriotic duty’ to an uncharted level,” Teddy said, laughing. “Thanks but no thanks. Whenever we go out to ‘straight’ bars together, more guys end up hitting on you than me.” She paused. “Will you wear a bag over your head?”

Arizona started snickering and collapsed onto her side, hugging a pillow. She felt way more relaxed talking to Teddy than she had in days. “You know that’s not true. I’m just a little more open and friendly looking. You tend to give them this ‘Look’ the moment they get within ten feet of you, like you’ll skin them alive if they so much as breathe on your neck. Lose the hostility and you’ll be fine. And your pants,” she added for good measure.

Rolling her eyes and re-adjusting her position on the bunk, Teddy allowed her mind to wander into the world of possibilities. “Can you at least pick someone you think I would like? Your version of man-pretty is a little too rugged for me.”

“If he’s ugly, I’ll put a paper bag over _his_ head and make sure he keeps his mouth shut,” Arizona agreed. “But I’m a good wing woman, I don’t set friends up with ugly men. Or women.”

“I guess I’ll just have to trust you. Maybe I can return the favour someday.”

“Yeah, how come you’ve never been my wing woman before?” Arizona pouted. “That hardly seems fair.”

They devolved into a ridiculous talk of sex and their lack-of these last few weeks, steering the conversation away from Callie and Hahn, and eventually coming to a stop on the subject of Teddy’s tentative arrival date.

“Let me know when and where. I’ll be at the gate with bells on,” Arizona agreed.

“Thanks, Robbins. I look forward to it.

Realizing they would have to get off the line soon, Arizona felt a lump form in the centre of her chest. “I miss you so much, Teddy. I don’t like having my rock thousands of miles away. Aren’t they sick of you over there yet?”

Teddy snorted. “No, not yet, but there’s still hope,” she relayed with a smile. “I should get going, lots to do.”

“Yeah, me too,” Arizona said quietly, her spirits sinking. Every time they spoke, she left the conversation with worry knotting itself deeply in her gut. “Please, please be safe, I really want to see you in a few weeks.”

Teddy smiled tenderly into the phone. “I will, promise. I’ll call again soon.”

“Good,” Arizona said. “Bye, T.”

“Bye.”

Arizona hung up and stared at the phone. She had to force the worry for Teddy out of her mind and make herself to dwell on the present instead - she had a busy day ahead and god knew what awaited her once she got to work.

***

Callie hadn’t dealt with a hangover in well over a year, almost two. There was pre-pregnancy testing, pregnancy itself, and now caring for her little bundle of joy took priority over continuing to live like she was in her twenties. Back in the day, she had been able to shake even the worst hangover within a few hours, but that didn’t count when she had to work.

With great effort, Callie extracted herself from the car, dark, saucer-sized sunglasses shading her eyes from the sun. Everything hurt. Even her eyelashes felt like they were throbbing just because of their proximity to her brain. Her mental faculties were clear enough to practice medicine but her mood certainly wasn’t going to do anyone any favours.

Cristina was waiting as promised via text message and fell into step beside Callie. “Where’s your kid?” she asked, looking around as though Callie had left Sofia to crawl in behind her.

Callie had yet to remove her sunglasses despite looking ridiculous wearing them inside. “I got paged,” she grumbled, “and Sofia is with Mark, so calm down.”

Cristina cast a critical eye over Callie’s physique. “You look worse than when I left.”

“I feel like a five-hundred pound person has been sitting on me for the last three hours,” Callie lamented.

“Need a puke bucket?”

“Bite me,” Callie grunted. “This is all your fault anyway.”

“If you’re still drunk, I’m pretty sure that means you can’t practice medicine,” Cristina said as they turned a corner. “Could be an excuse to go home. Let them call your residents in.”

“Dr. Torres!” Speaking of, Callie’s newest ortho intern came barrelling towards them, oblivious to his mentor’s mental state. “Your peds patient, Casey, her knee is the size of a basketball and there’s an MVA on the way, trauma might need a hand.”

A slew of patient stats, all thrown at her in a shrill squeak, set Callie’s teeth on edge. All she could do was press her fingers into her temple yet again and close her eyes while she willed the buzzing in her ears to stop. Cristina happened to notice and stepped in.

“Shut up,” she barked, “go inform the parents Dr. Torres will be right up. Scram. _Now_.”

Fear of Dr. Yang was prevalent among the first years and he scampered like he’d been struck by lightning. Cristina’s smugness lasted all the way to the elevator, which Callie quickly slipped inside and blocked the door.

“No,” she announced, firmly planting her arm across Cristina’s path. “You’re taking the next one.”

Cristina blinked, confused. “But I need to-”

“No,” Callie echoed, waving at her to step back as she hit the button. “I need some peace and quiet, even if it’s only for ten seconds. You’re taking the next one.” Cristina flashed her a rude hand gesture before the doors slid closed and sealed her in.

Callie moved to the back of the elevator and slumped into the wall, losing herself in the dull hum of the engine cranking upward. She had no idea how in the hell she was supposed to make it through the rest of the day, especially not if her first patient involved emergency surgery with Arizona. One more fight and the pounding in her brain would push into sledgehammer territory.

***

Arizona was slow on her feet that morning, worrying about Teddy and Callie alike. With her best friend practically in the ‘Nam and a promised visit in several weeks’ time, she was having a hard time focusing on her surroundings. Her hair and makeup suffered as a result, leaving her dishevelled and slightly manic in appearance. The bloodshot eyes and major bags garnishing her face gained her few admiring glances at the coffee cart.

Since she was already at work when Casey’s intern paged his concerns, she had briefed the parents and viewed the latest x-rays before Callie even stepped into the building. The best course of action was immediate surgery, which she still had to confirm with the Copelands. First, she needed to consult ortho and confirm they would bring the girl into the OR later that day.

Stifling a major yawn, Arizona chose to replenish her office supplies and dig through their stores for post-op care. Anything to keep her mind off of talking to Callie and how many more hurtful jabs they could throw at each other given an entire surgery to work through. She was so busy being grumpy and brooding that she just flung open the supply closet without thinking, startling when it rebounded off of something hard.

“ _Jesus Christ!_ ” someone bellowed from behind the door. “Do you go around flinging doors open just for fun?! My god! I think I’m bleeding!”

Oh, hell. Not even rage could disguise that voice from Arizona.

Sure enough, when she gingerly pushed the door open a second time, she came face to face with a very pissed off looking Callie glowering at her through watery eyeballs.

“Oh god, I am _so_ sorry,” Arizona gushed, heat flaring in her cheeks. She slipped inside and let the door close behind her, half reaching out as if to steady Callie should her balance waver. “I swear I had no idea you were in here.”

Callie groaned as Arizona tried to pry the hand from her forehead. “No, I’m fine,” she said hotly, jerking away.

Undeterred, Arizona craned her neck to have a look at the injury. The centre of Callie’s face looked angry and red, much like a bullseye Arizona had inadvertently hit. “Looks like you’re going to have a nasty bruise. Callie, I’m so sorry, I wasn’t even-”

“Don’t,” Callie snapped, knocking Arizona’s hand away when she tried to poke the wound. “You’ve done enough damage already, thanks.” It sounded harsher than she meant it to, but the concussion wasn’t making her receptive to apologizing any time soon.

Arizona’s mouth fell open, surprised at the hostility despite their circumstances. The last thing she wanted to do was make things worse, but then hitting her ex in the face with a door had probably done the trick. “I don’t think you’re bleeding,” she offered, grimacing at such a feeble response.

Callie snorted and turned away, trying poorly to hide her embarrassment. “Thank god for small miracles,” she mumbled. “I need an ice pack if you can manage without maiming me.”

Arizona bristled. “Overreact much? It’s not like I expected you to be hiding in a closet.”

Callie stopped rubbing the knot protruding from her face and glared at the blonde. “And it’s not like I expected to get knocked on my ass by someone barrelling through the door. You’ve already made it pretty clear you hate me, no need to hammer it home so hard.”

“Callie, I don’t hate-”

“It’s fine,” Callie said shortly, waving it off. “Nevermind.”

Exasperated, Arizona spotted a chemical ice pack on the nearest shelf and tossed it into Callie’s chest, letting her fumble to catch it. She’d had enough of the passive-aggressive crap between them these last two days. Yanking open the door, she gestured for Callie to go through. “Fine. I’ll meet you down the hall to go over Casey’s x-rays; she needs surgery today. Your intern has the updated file.”

“Fantastic,” Callie retorted, breaking the seal and slapping the ice pack to her forehead. “Can’t wait.” Feeling like a moron with the giant bag squished against her face, she brushed by Arizona, tempted to let an elbow drop casually into her ribs. She thought better of it.

Arizona sighed to herself once Callie was gone and went about getting the supplies she needed for Casey’s pre-op hours. It was supposed to be a quiet five minutes to herself, time alone to think and step away from the craziness of a busy surgical unit, but ramming her ex-girlfriend through a door had quashed the ritual pretty thoroughly. Even picking out a colouring book and crayons to keep Casey occupied before surgery wasn’t as fun as it should have been. Arizona chose not to take one full of farm animals - reminding the patient of her dead horse would only make Casey’s day even worse than Arizona’s was turning out to be.

***

The more Arizona tried to follow Teddy’s advice and not to be angry with Callie, the more she really was. Whatever adjustment period she’d assumed they would have was turning out to be so much worse than she’d ever considered. Callie’s attitude just seemed like overkill, considering the source of their disagreement and whose fault it was in the first place. She was acting like Arizona had run over her puppy.

Another text message from Gwen in Baltimore arrived as she heading for Casey’s room. Arizona paused mid-step, stealing a quick glance at her phone before stuffing it back in her pocket. She had patients to deal with, personal calls could wait until later.

Callie was rifling through the peds desk for something, looking about as thrilled as she had moments after the door incident. Arizona thought about going elsewhere, anywhere to avoid another confrontation, but she refused to be chased out of her own department - her _old_ department, even.

Callie barely looked up when Arizona came to an abrupt halt on her right. “Can I help you?”

The coolness in her voice grated on Arizona’s nerves. “What is with you today?” she whispered, glancing sideways at her ex-girlfriend while flipping through Casey’s patient file. “I’m not the one who pulled a lying excuse out of my ass yesterday, so if anyone should be cranky, it’s _me_.”

“I cannot deal with this right now,” Callie said heavily, closing her eyes and pinching the bridge of her nose before grimacing in pain for the umpteenth time that day. “Please, just go away. I’m begging you, Arizona.”

At first Arizona was stung, wondering how on earth it could have gotten this bad between them, only there was something off about the way Callie was carrying herself. The closer Arizona studied her, the more pronounced it became. There was a desperate edge in her voice and a silent begging in her eyes, coupled with the witch-like attitude and the lack of colour in her complexion. If Arizona didn’t know any better, she would have thought Callie was coming down with something.

The pieces suddenly fell into place. “Are you hungover?” she asked, totally incredulous.

Callie did a sharp double-take and abruptly turned away. “What? No!” she fired back, bristling with insult. “Of course not.”

“Oh my god, you totally are,” Arizona hissed, leaning closer so others didn’t overhear. “You’re hungover and you’re taking it out on me! I can’t believe you!”

Callie’s bloodshot eyes did a sweep of their immediate surroundings. They were relatively alone. “I am not - how dare you!” she said with an indignant huff, slamming her case file shut. “That would be totally unprofessional and I resent you asking me that in the first place. I’m _fine_. I am not - there’s no - nothing!”

Arizona was biting back a triumphant grin. Suddenly everything made sense and the anger at her mistreatment started to melt away. Callie was a _bear_ when she was hungover, even if you happened to be the one sleeping with her at the time. She remembered those mornings well.

“Calliope, I know you,” she pointed out, her tone softening significantly. “I lived with you, I drank with you. You’re hungover and pissed off. That’s why you’re breathing fire over anyone who looks sideways at you.”

Callie teetered on the edge of denying it, pride and reputation and all that bullshit, but she exhaled a massive burst of pent up air before collapsing into the pediatric desk. “Everything hurts,” she moaned pitifully. “And thanks to you, it hurts a lot worse than before.” She even attempted to laugh at herself but it quickly turned into a whimper when she struggled to stand upright again. Every last ounce of energy had been going into keeping her condition hidden, and now that it was out in the open, all she wanted to do was curl up in the corner.

Arizona really wanted to dig it in after the way Callie had treated her but those big, brown doe eyes got her every time. Callie looked so pained that she opted for silence instead, waiting patiently for her to finish her mini-tantrum first.

“Yes, I’m pathetic,” Callie announced, gesturing wildly at Arizona. “Get your shots in now because in about two and a half seconds, I’m reverting to a grumpy bitch for the rest of the day and you can deal with it.”

It was impossible for Arizona not to smirk, so she dropped her gaze to her nails, studying them instead. “No, I’m good. Watching you suffer is enough. Also, the whole door-to-face thing,” she added, chuckling when Callie scowled. “Unfortunately for you, Casey’s surgery can’t wait until tomorrow, but I do think it can be pushed back to later tonight. The OR schedule is pretty busy this afternoon anyway. That should give you some time to recover.”

Callie closed her eyes in relief. “Oh, thank god,” she moaned, collapsing into the desk again. Her spine might as well have been made of marshmallows. “Have you talked to the real housewife of Seattle yet? I can’t deal with her today, I’ll snap a bitch.”

“She wasn’t there when I came in earlier,” Arizona mused. “I went over the liver repair with her father. Casey’s a really sweet kid, especially when the mom isn’t squashing her personality. She seemed pretty upbeat considering.” She cast a look to the girl’s room down the hall. “I think Mom’s in there now. There’s a dark cloud blotting out the sun.”

Callie looked pained at the idea of dealing with patients and their problems. It involved a lot of talking and actual caring, something she wasn’t physically capable of right now. “Let’s go get this over with before I turn into a monster,” she sighed, stepping around Arizona and reaching back to grab a fistful of the blonde’s lab coat to tug her along. “C’mon.”

Arizona chose not to enrage the angry bear any further and went without protest, entering the room behind her. She offered the parents a friendly a smile; Mrs. Copeland, dressed in a pinstripe business skirt and blouse, slid off her daughter’s bed and faced them with a sour look. “Great, we finally made it on your to-do list. Jesus, it’s like service at Denny’s in this place.”

Callie inadvertently bit her tongue and tried to hide the tiniest smirk resulting from the image of a woman of Mrs. Copeland’s self-perpetuated stature and refinement setting foot inside a Denny’s, let alone sticking around long enough to actually eat the food.

Arizona kept the fake smile plastered to her face for both their sakes. She could practically feel Callie hiding behind her and knew it would be up to her to break the news. “Mr. and Mrs. Copeland, I’m sorry to keep you waiting. Dr. Torres and I have decided that your daughter’s surgery can’t wait until tomorrow. We’ve got staff looking into the first available OR and expect to have her in by this evening.”

She turned her focus away from the parents and fixed it on the scared preteen. “Waiting is always the scariest part, so this is a good thing. Dr. Torres and I will make sure you’re asleep through the whole thing.”

“I don’t wanna,” Casey pouted, crossing her arms. “Mommy, you can’t make me.”

Arizona felt a pang. “I know it’s so scary to talk about, but I promise you the surgery itself is not-”

Mrs. Copeland interrupted with an impatient scoff, pulling her phone out again when it beeped twice from her purse. “Eyes over here, honey. We’re the ones footing the bill. Tell me what we’re looking at.”

Callie pursed her lips and stole a glance at Arizona; her posture was stiff as a board. Arizona hated being addressed that way by anyone, especially arrogant and condescending parents. Headache or not, Callie sucked it up and stepped forward, subtly squeezing Arizona’s arm to let her know she could take over from here.

“Casey’s kneecap isn’t so severely dislocated that we need to make a large incision to realign it. Instead, we can perform what’s called an arthroscopic patella realignment-”

Mrs. Copeland threw up a hand, cutting Callie off. “An arthro pat-a what? What the hell does that mean?”

There were dark shadows under her husband’s eyes as he spoke for the first time, standing up from his daughter’s bedside. “Will you let her explain and stop butting in, Cheryl? They’re just doing their job.”

The surgeons exchanged exasperated stares. Neither one of them really wanted to deal with this woman but Callie knew she owed Arizona one after this morning.

“As I was saying...this surgery will be performed arthroscopically,” she said patiently, turning back to Casey, whom she was less likely to throttle. “Which means you’ll only have a teeny tiny scar. It’s really cool, actually, it’s like a robot helps me fix your knee so I don’t have to make a big cut.”

The robot thing always got kids’ attention and it worked with Casey, who now looked more intrigued than afraid. “Will it hurt?” she asked Callie.

Arizona noticed her ex’s demeanour melt just a little bit. Kids had a calming effect on her when they were well behaved.

Callie was quick to shake her head. “Oh no, not at all. You’ll be asleep having nice dreams, so you won’t feel it one bit.”

“Not many kids your age get to say that a robot helped fix their knee _and_ their liver,” Arizona added with a conspicuous wink. “You’ll have some pretty cool stories for when you get back to school.”

Casey looked lighter than when the conversation had started, which made Callie happy. A sharp stab in her brain, however, reminded her that she was on the brink of collapse. The parents and patient were reassured, which was all she could really ask for, and Arizona seemed to clue in that she was barely hanging on. They manage to excuse themselves with promises to update the surgery time and took their leave before anything else could go wrong with Cruella De Vil.

Arizona was careful to keep her eyes forward, counting to ten before she let herself breathe again. “I need coffee before I punch something,” she muttered now that they were out of earshot. “Of all the stubborn parents I’ve ever dealt with, that woman, I swear…”

“I think we’re finally agreeing on something,” Callie smirked, although it was short-lived. Every step she took caused her shoulders to hunch and the spots start to form behind her eyes again. There was a very real possibility that she would need to wear sunglasses in surgery if things didn’t start to improve.

Arizona heard Callie moan subtly in distress and studied her with a skeptical eye. “Okay, we need to fix you,” she announced, looping an arm through her ex’s and veering off to the right.

Callie didn’t have the strength or the patience to fight with Arizona. “Where are we going?” she asked, stumbling alongside her captor.

“You look pathetic and you’re grumpy as hell,” Arizona chastised, glancing into windows and doors as they went past, searching for an empty room. “ I’m fixing you before someone gets killed. And so you’ll stop making that face.”

Callie scrunched her brow. “What face? I don’t have a ‘face’.”

“Mm-hm.” Choosing to ignore her, Arizona finally found an empty exam room and abruptly steered Callie inside. She closed the door behind them and pushed her toward the rolling bed, empty of sheets and signalling that the room wasn’t needed for a while. “Sit. Stay.”

Callie’s eyebrows shot up. “What am I, your dog?” she argued, staying in place. Arizona narrowed her eyes and simply glared until Callie shrank under the scrutiny; her resolve was really weak thanks to the remnants of alcohol still floating through her system. Begrudgingly, she parked her behind on the bed.

“Seriously, what are we doing in here? Are you gonna have your way with me or something?” she half-laughed, joking, but the look on Arizona’s face shut her up really quickly.

“Do you remember how well that went the last time?” Arizona said dryly, the memory making her feel a little awkward but also kind of amused. “Mark walked in, followed by Alex because neither one of us were answering our pagers. That’s why we made the ‘lock the door’ rule a thing.”

Heat flushed Callie’s cheeks and she couldn’t stop herself from smiling. “And we decided on-call rooms were a bit more covert than empty exam rooms, even if the danger made it more exciting.”

Laughing, Arizona purposefully averted her eyes. “So that would be a ‘no’ to your question, then. Less having my way, more getting you hydrated and rested before your brain explodes.” She checked her watch to make sure nobody was expecting her presence any time soon and figured she could manage an hour of Callie duty undisturbed. “Sit tight and I’ll be right back, okay?”

Callie nodded without a word and soon found herself alone in the dark room. Her fingers tapped absently against her thigh, mind wandering to what Arizona could possibly be doing. The act of thinking made her head hurt even worse, so eventually she pulled her legs onto the bed and laid back.

She was almost asleep when Arizona came bursting in minutes later, startling her. Arizona was too busy fussing with an IV pole that had a sticky wheel and carrying a bag of clear, yellow fluid in the other hand to notice the way Callie’s eyes followed her across the room. A plastic-wrapped IV cord was clamped between her teeth and kept her from saying anything.

Grunting, Arizona finally arranged the IV pole next to the bed and dropped the supplies on Callie’s lap. Without a word, she started rolling up Callie’s right sleeve and pulled on a pair of gloves.

Callie’s brow rose again and she propped her other arm casually behind her head. “Am I allowed to know what you’re injecting me with?” she asked as Arizona scrubbed her forearm with disinfectant. “I think there’s something in the friendship handbook about not letting your ex shoot you up with drugs unannounced.”

Arizona rolled her eyes, mumbling her defense as she worked, but Callie couldn’t understand a thing with that stupid IV cord in her mouth. She reached over and yanked it out in one swipe, nearly taking the blonde’s bottom teeth with it.

Glowering, Arizona snatched the cord back. “I said, ‘I’ve got it, you big baby’,” she clarified, smirking when Callie started to pout. “Just lie still for a minute and close your eyes, I won’t hurt you.” The sentiment sounded rather sweet, until she added, “Unless you puke on me, then I _will_ hurt you.”

Callie faked a dry heave and made Arizona recoil. “I’m not going to puke, okay?” she said patiently, watching her ex work. Even with something as simple as administering a hydration bag to an idiot with a hangover, she was laser-focused and extremely careful. No matter how awful Callie felt, the care Arizona took as she inserted the needle made her smile. The gloved hand cradling her forearm was warm and comforting. 

A few seconds passed. They were comfortable, lacking any of the tension from the last twenty-four hours. “Thanks,” Callie said, “you didn’t have to...you know, do this. ” She found herself staring up at Arizona, waiting until the flash of blue met her own gaze before catching herself and smiling sheepishly. “I promise I won’t make a habit of being a moron on a work night. One time thing thanks to Cristina.”

Arizona’s smile was relaxed while most of her attention was still focused on Callie’s arm. “Yeah, well, it’s mostly damage control,” she teased while taping the IV in place and making sure there were no kinks in the tubing. Once she was sure the banana bag was flowing, she stripped off her gloves. “I don’t want you murdering some poor intern and ending up in jail. That would just be tragic.”

“Still, thank you,” Callie said quietly, allowing herself to settle back and get comfy. It felt nice, being taken care of for a change, even if she was a royal jerk who didn’t deserve it. Arizona had never been one to hold grudges; she was more the type to kill with kindness and take the high road without making it obvious. The thought made Callie bite back a goofy smile.

She opened her eyes to find Arizona frowning at her, concerned. “I’m good,” she confirmed. “You can go if you need to. You probably have more important things to do than sit here and babysit me.”

“Like what? I don’t technically work here,” Arizona chuckled, gathering the discarded supplies and tossing them in the trash. “Casey and Allison are really my only two patients. And you,” she added with a crooked grin, finally making eye contact. “Can I get you anything? An ice pack for your forehead or jello for your hunger pains?”

Callie matched Arizona’s grin, wondering if it was the placebo effect or if the hydration fluid was already working after a few minutes. Everything hurt a little less. “Jello? What am I, ten?”

“I’m trying to be nice,” Arizona shot back. “I did smack you in the face with a door. That earns you one free trip to the cafeteria - or the supply closet for an ice pack. Pick your poison.”

Callie took a second to debate her options. “If you don’t want me to puke on you - ice pack. If you do want me to puke on you - jello. No, wait, pudding. Or cake. They have cake, right?”

“You want cake?” Arizona asked skeptically.

“Forget it. I can’t even look at food right now,” Callie bemoaned. “Ice pack, please.”

It took a lot of effort to only laugh once; there was no sense in making fun of someone already in a significant amount of discomfort. It bugged Arizona how utterly adorable she found pathetic, hungover Callie to this day. Nothing had changed, she still wanted to nurse the helpless little puppy back to health. That woman had a way of making even the most horrible of feelings wear cute.

“One face-sized ice pack, coming right up,” Arizona confirmed, turning her back on Callie. “You should probably put it over your nose, too. I hit you with that door pretty hard.”

Re-adjusting her position on the bed, Callie craned her neck up and grinned. “Yeah, my face thanks you for that. Better hope your insurance covers nose jobs.”

“I pick my targets carefully. You have a pretty face, I spared the best parts.”

Callie let out a short laugh as Arizona reached the door. Something triggered and made her call out. “Wait, hang on a sec.”

Arizona paused, looking over her shoulder.

Callie swallowed thickly, a plume of butterflies bursting in her belly. “I need to say something before I chicken out or make an ass of myself again.”

Arizona turned back around, careful not to look Callie directly in the eye for fear of what was about to come out of her mouth. She was enjoying the light and funny, she didn’t want it to get bogged down by serious issues. “Calliope-”

Holding up a hand, Callie continued first. “I’m sorry for lying to you - because I told myself I would never do that. Together or apart,” she added, licking her lips. “That whole mess with Erica was my fault and I’m so sorry I dragged you into it.” it amazed her how hard it was to say those words. Even now she blushed furiously and felt like an idiot.

“I really want to make this...situation work somehow, having you here and you two working together,” she added. “It would be a shame to let something stupid like my brain get in the way of it.”

Arizona didn’t respond right away, which automatically made Callie nervous. She glanced sideways at her IV and tugged on the cord. “Wow, what do they put in this stuff?” she half-laughed, hoping it hid how much of a mess she was.

Arizona started to smile, letting her gaze hover. “Thiamine, folic acid, magnesium sulphate and multivitamins.” When she received an eyeroll, Arizona ducked her face shyly. “Thank you, Callie. That means a lot.”

The light mood was replaced with an awkward silence, during which Arizona fiddled with the thick metal watch on her wrist, gravitating back to Callie’s bedside. “For the record, I want to make this work, too. I can’t say I wasn’t afraid of how things might be between us when I got on that plane.” She bit her bottom lip. “I don’t want things to be awkward.”

Callie flashed Arizona a soft smile. “I think we’re on the same page then,” she agreed, absentmindedly reaching out to fiddle with the blonde’s laminated name tag dangling from her lab coat. “Also, for the record? I missed this, just spending time together. You’re pretty much the only person who could’ve rescued the world from me in this condition.”

Arizona felt a pang of affection for Callie and dropped a hand to her forearm. “I missed spending time together, too,” she spoke softly.

The butterflies in Callie’s stomach erupted again; Arizona’s touch still had that effect on her. At least until she squeezed Callie’s IV, causing her to jolt forward without warning. “Ow!”

“Oh!” Arizona jerked her hand away and grimaced. “Sorry! I’m not having a good Callie-injury day, am I?” she groaned, blushing furiously at her latest mistake.

Callie massaged the tender wound and managed to laugh it off. “No, you’re really not, but I probably had that coming.”

Embarrassed, Arizona tucked a stray hair behind her ear and stepped away from the bed. “I think that’s my cue to go get you an ice pack. And maybe a blanket, since you have to stay here until you’re re-hydrated.” She stuffed both hands in her pockets and retreated to the exit. “Then you should head home for a few hours, get some sleep before surgery. See your baby, read the newspaper. You know, all the things you’re supposed to do on a day off.”

“Yeah, until I get paged in for another emergency and you accidentally run me over in the parking lot on my way in,” Callie teased relentlessly.

Waving her off, Arizona opened the door. “Yeah, yeah,” she grumbled, pouting. “Ice pack, coming up.”

Callie sighed contently as she was left alone again, settling into the bed and letting the IV do its thing. Alone and unashamed, she couldn’t seem to stop grinning, feeling monumentally better with every passing minute.


End file.
